Early on day three of the first India-England Test in Chennai, Rishabh Pant missed a fairly straightforward chance to stump Jack Leach off R Ashwin‘s bowling.
Rishabh Pant’s wicketkeeping ability in subcontinental conditions has always been subject to debate and in the first three days of the Chennai Test, all eyes have been on how he fares behind the stumps. He was chosen ahead of Wriddhiman Saha in the playing XI.
Rory Burns had edged one down the leg-side off Jasprit Bumrah’s first ball in home Tests, but Pant put down a difficult chance. That was attributed to Pant jumping to the wrong side and the ball going well down leg-side, and thus, did not trigger many reactions.
However, on day three, Pant had a lot of time to try and stump the batsman. But he fumbled behind the stumps and the ball slipped through his gloves as Leach got back in easily. Ashwin seemed miffed at the simple chance going down and brought his arms to his face in frustration.
Here are a few reactions to the miss from Rishabh Pant:
Everyone misses stumping. Even great keepers do but the way Pant missed that stumping of Leach off Ashwin tells me all I need to know about Pant the keeper.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 7, 2021
#INDvsENG #RishabhPant doing #RishabhPant pic.twitter.com/ipfUUIAJqm
— Ravi1 (@1RaviR) February 7, 2021
#RishabhPant #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/UUrMciTBxe
— MJ (@milindjog) February 7, 2021
Rishabh Pant needs to spend some time with Dhoni to work on his wicket-keeping
— Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai_ET) February 7, 2021
No matter how match winning innings you can bat, without wicket keeping skill you shouldn’t be in the team as wicket keeper. #RishabhPant wicket keeping skill is equal to new school boy . Especially in #India where bowl turn, you need basics right. #INDvsENG #BCCI
— Hemal (@Hemal3490) February 7, 2021
Just the way he gathered the ball and rushed to take the bails off and missed, proves that Rishabh Pant is not a natural wicket-keeper. Play him as a keeper in white ball cricket to help him improve & play him as a batsman in Tests. Team will be doing him a favour. #INDvsENG
— Nitin Naik (@toi_nitinnayak) February 7, 2021
Rishabh Pant has a better future behind a mic as Stand Up Comedian, than behind Stumps as WK…#INDvsENG
— kuldeep (@imkuldeep) February 7, 2021
Can @BCCI please have a wicket keeping coach for Rishabh Pant. #INDvsENG
— Amit Mehra (@IamAmitMehra) February 7, 2021
