The Indian team management is known for its controversial decision makings when picking their playing XI for a match. They have always had this confusion ever since Virat Kohli took over the captaincy from MS Dhoni.
The world cup winning captain MS Dhoni was a complete contrasting character when it comes to making changes in the playing XI. It is also safe to say that India’s most successful captain MS Dhoni hated to change the playing XI more often than not.
The present Indian captain Virat Kohli has been receiving lots of criticism from the fans for not being consistent with team selections.
The latest criticism is the inclusion of Rishabh Pant in place of Saha after blatantly admitting that Saha was their first choice wicket-keeper.
Here we take a look at why Saha shouldn’t be India’s first choice wicket-keeper and Pant should be played ahead of Saha in the forthcoming series.
India have a history of not producing world class wicket-keepers under their ranks until MS Dhoni arrived to the scene. The wicket-keeping skills exhibited by Dhoni was new to the Indian cricket. He was acrobatic, flexible, had unusual keeping technique which was a highly successful one too along with his batting exploits.
Once Dhoni hung his boots, Saha did a very decent job but only as a keeper and not as a wicket-keeping batsman. He was largely untested in the SENA conditions because he didn’t get any opportunity as he was facing with some timely injuries then and there.
Then came the dashing and dynamic Rishabh Pant with the reputation of a big hitter and he clicked big time. He can just change the game with his big hitting abilities in just one session.
He should be persisted with and groomed in such a way that he becomes one of the unavoidable member of the team because he has all the ingredients in him to become one of the great wicket-keepers.
Rishabh Pant is just 21 years old and already has test 100s in two of the most difficult conditions to bat in Australia and England. Considering the fact that the world test championship is happening in England and with India already having one foot in the finals, it will only make sense to groom Pant from here on as he has ample experience in English conditions.
As a matter of fact, the southpaw is the only wicket-keeper in the Indian cricket history to hit tons in England and Australia. Rishabh Pant made this record in his very first tours to Australia and England. This is a enough sample size to show why Rishabh Pant should be persisted with in the test team.
Age is on his side
The Bengal based Wriddhiman Saha is well over 35 years old. If anything, Saha already has undergone several surgeries in his career. On the other hand Rishabh Pant is just 21 years old and also has already proved his mettle as a wicket-keeper batsman at the highest level.
It is only apt if India persist with Rishabh Pant and ask Saha to groom the youngster by passing on his wisdom in the last stage of his career.