India may ditch specialist wicket-keeper plan, play only Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pants matchsaving and matchwinning performances against Australia in the Sydney and Brisbane Tests may force the Indian team management to discard their old plan of playing Wriddhiman Saha at home and Pant outside AsiaAlthough the team management is yet to finalise the eleven the Indian team that faces England in the first Test from February 5 may feature Pant and not Saha considering that India are likely to play five bowlersWith Kohli likely to be back at No 4 and Ajinkya Rahane at No 5 Pant will most probably bat at No 6 followed by a couple of bowling allrounders like R AshwinWashington SundarAxar PatelUp until now Pants weak wicketkeeping skills were the reason why he wasnt played in Tests in India He has played just two of his 16 Tests in India and they came well over two years agoIndia also have an option of playing both But for the sake of balance playing two wicketkeepers may reduce Indias bowling options as Saha will walk in at No 7 India may play Pant in what will be his first Test in India since October 2018Though it is considered risky to not play a conventional wicketkeeper on Indian pitches former India stumper Kiran More said that Pant will come good as Indian tracks offer a lot of chances to dismiss batsmenRishabh will do a good job He will make a few mistakes no doubt He is 23 You are comparing a 23yearold with a 36yearold Saha has more experience he has less When Rishabh learns with experience he will become top wicketkeeperbatsman More told IANSMore said that keeping in India demands total concentration and that is why it can get easier to keep wickets hereI think he Rishabh will enjoy keeping wickets in India more It is challenging but on pitches supporting turn I always enjoyed keeping wickets You are always in the game You get a lot of opportunities also You might miss a couple but you will always get chances whereas on flatter wickets it is very difficult to keep wickets because hardly any ball comes to you As far as your concentration is concerned you are always on the ball added MoreIndian or subcontinent wickets being good for wicketkeeping is something that England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler also discussed while speaking to Indian mediaIt is a challenge but it is also a great place to keep wickets because you are always in the game There are quick reactive chances I certainly enjoyed it in Sri Lanka I think wicketkeeping in spinning conditions is a lot of fun Buttler saidOn Sunday Englands reserve wicketkeeper Ben Foakes said choosing between a specialist wicketkeeper Saha or batsmanwicketkeeper Pant will depend on the balanceYou need to have a blend of both I think it depends on the batting lineup If you have a batting lineup that is scoring 600 runs every time then you go for specialist wicketkeeper If you want a frontline batsmen then you go for a batting wicketkeeper he told mediaIt looks like both India and England may go for batting wicketkeepers with specialists Foakes and Saha warming the bench at least in the first TestThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever