Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Saba Karim was thoroughly impressed by Rishabh Pants’ wicket-keeping in the first Test against England. He heaped praise on Pant and event went on to add that his wicket-keeping in the first match was better than England counterpart Jos Buttler.
Despite his flamboyant and magnificence with the bat, Pant has often come under the scanner for his glovework. Touted as the proper successor to MS Dhoni’s role in the Indian team, Pant had been backed since a long time.
However, in the initial few years, he attracted a lot of criticism for both his erratic and irresponsible batting at times as well as his lack of keeping skills.
However, the 23-year-old has improved massively since then. Keeping can be difficult in English conditions as the ball moves a lot and it becomes harder to track its trajectory. Despite those challenges, Saba Karim feels Pant has done a brilliant job. The fact that Karim feels Pant has done better than Jos Buttler who’s acclimatized to the conditions there is a testament to the tweaks he’s made to his game.
“Rishabh Pant was brilliant with his wicketkeeping. I noticed that the way the ball was wobbling after crossing the wicket, it wasn’t easy. But his keeping was better than that of Jos Buttler. Buttler has played so many times in his home conditions, but Rishabh Pant was brilliant behind the stumps by taking so many catches.” Saba Karim said while speaking on the YouTube show ‘Khelneeti.
Despite being in the twilight of his career, Jimmy Anderson continues to be the backbone for the England pace unit in red-ball cricket. The man with the most Test wickets for a pacer in history also looked threatening in the first Test against England. He crossed Anil Kumble’s tally of 619 Test wickets and moved to being the third-highest wicket-taker of all time in red-ball cricket with only Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan in front of him. Saba Karim also pointed out the work ethic of Anderson and said that it is something youngsters should adopt.
“It is a privilege for us to see James Anderson playing at this stage of his career. The way he works hard and prepares for every series, every batsman is tremendous. His mindset and the way he sets up batsmen is something to watch for all youngsters,” Saba Karim concluded.
