He may have been in the headlines for his constant chatter from behind the wickets but Rishabh Pant could be the trump card for India in the remaining two Tests of the four-match series against Australia.
Australia’s limited-overs team mainstay Glenn Maxwell said that he has watched Pant bat during the Indian Premier League and he hasn’t batted as well as he can in the Test matches yet.
“He’s an amazing talent. We have only seen him scratch the surface in terms of his ability,” Maxwell was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“I’ve been glued to my TV every time he’s come out to bat... if he does get going, it’s pretty good to watch.”
Maxwell recalled an innings from Pant during the IPL in which the Indian wicket-keeper scored a century. Pant finished second on this year’s list of IPL run-scorers, scoring 684 runs.
“He’s extremely talented ... he played some extraordinary innings for us over there. He got an amazing hundred, where he just kept reserve-scooping balls with a straight bat, over third man for six.
“I think he was a gymnast growing up, so he’s extremely flexible. He can manipulate his body into different positions to hit the ball.”
The 21-year-old has not found that form in the ongoing Test series, having scored only 119 runs at 29.75. But with next two Tests at Melbourne and Sydney expected to be played on surfaces that will be better for batting, he is likely to show his true colours with the bat.
Apart from his chirping from behind the wickets, Pant’s highlight of the series were the record-breaking 11 catches in Adelaide. Still, Maxwell joked about the constant chatter one hears from behind the stumps.
“He speaks a fair amount of dross,” Maxwell joked. “Having spent the whole IPL with him, I certainly learned that first hand. I used to hear it all the time in the change rooms, at training. It was pretty non-stop.
“We we were pretty close during the IPL, which was nice.”