14 January,2019 09:00 AM IST | New Delhi | PTI
Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant is a "champion cricketer in the making", who is very much in the mix for India's 2019 World Cup campaign for his ability to seamlessly switch formats, says chairman of selector MSK Prasad.
After being "rested" for the ODI series against Australia and New Zealand, there have been conjectures about his place in the England-bound squad but Prasad set the record straight about the selection committee's plans about talents such as Pant and Shubman Gill.
"Rishabh Pant played three T20s and four Test matches in Australia and that had an impact on his body. He needed complete rest for two weeks and then we will take a call on how many matches he will play against the England Lions. Let me put it straight, he is very much in our World Cup plans.
Chief selector MSK Prasad
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He is a champion player in the making and even he is not fully aware of the kind of potential he has," Prasad told PTI yesterday. Prasad is happy that Pant is now understanding what skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri expect of him, and Sydney was a testimony to that.
"Ravi and Virat had advised him to put his head down and respect the match situation and he did exactly that. He proved that he can switch gears seamlessly. "When we picked him for Tests, experts were sceptical about his wicketkeeping ability but 11 catches in a Test in England and record dismissals in the Australia series prove that selection committee is vindicated," the former India wicketkeeper stated.
Prasad is equally excited about young Gill. "Shubman is comfortable both opening the innings as well as playing in the middle-order. For the New Zealand series, we are looking at him as the reserve opener behind Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma."
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