T20 World Cup 2024: Team India's fielding coach T Dilip opens up on Pant's lateral movements

Rishabh Pant. Pic/PTI

Rishabh Pant's stunning performances with the bat since his comeback have impressed everyone but have amazed Team India's fielding coach, T Dilip the his glovework behind the stumps.

After recovering from a horrific car crash in December 2022, Pant made a comeback to competitive cricket during the IPL 2024. Later, in the T20 World Cup 2024, coming to bat at number three, Pant played crucial knocks for the side. Along with the willow, he has been outstanding in donning the Big Gloves.

"The best thing is that Rishabh has done so well in his comeback. Especially the batting is considered to be very good. But one of the good things about him is the way he came back as a wicketkeeper," Dilip said ahead of the team's last T20 World Cup 2024 group league game against Canada.

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2024: Will rain play spoilsport between India and Canada match?

For the fielding coach, being able to move sideways smoothly after knee surgery is a huge thing. "Especially with an injury he had, to come back as a wicketkeeper and do that lateral movement, so that is very heartening to see." About his batting strategy, the coach said that the Roorkee man always does simulation in the nets and that helps him in matches. "Coming to your question about batting differently, having different plans in the match, it's a strategy, it's something which Rishabh always does, is that he tries everything in practice whatever comes in a match so that he is well prepared with his options whatever he wants to try in a match."

Now it's been more than two years and Dilip is with Team India. For him, the best part about the team is the improvement shown by the fast bowlers in terms of fielding in important positions. A case in point would be Mohammed Siraj at deep mid-wicket taking a catch of USA's Nitish Kumar.

"If I really want to go to specifics, what's heartening to see is the bowlers doing really well. Yes, Jadeja is very good, Virat Kohli is good, Rohit Sharma is good. They were doing very well before. "But then what's happening is the bowlers doing really well, which is adding up as you can see that now the bowlers are standing in hot spots. So, that's a great sign for a team. "So that, what will happen in that, Rohit Sharma will get the versatility (options) that he doesn't have to look for any place. That versatility is allowing him to keep good fielders at positions all the time." Asked to elaborate, Dilip spoke about how bowlers, despite long spells in a match, come back the next day for optional sessions.

"After long bowling spells and coming back and especially most of the optional sessions, they are taking that initiative to come for the practice. That is first thing."

"And in that process, two important things we did in this, we try to do in this tournament, is attitude and attention to detail. "Attention to detail means when the ball is going on the boundary... slow outfield, you all were never giving up till last moment, backing up when somebody is throwing." Dilip, who has worked with notable baseball coach Mike King, said that he has been using some of the throwing techniques of baseball in cricket. "I love it because there are certain things which I have been using for pretty long because back in there, I had an opportunity to work with Mike King, with an Australian team. He was a baseball player, so quite a few inputs from that game have really helped me in cricket," said Dilip, who along with a few players and support staff, went to watch a Yankees game during their stay in New York. "The other day, we went to Yankees Stadium, so we watched some baseball stuff out there and we met an NFL player, so it's diverse sports, so we try to get in what we can learn from other sports, so it gives an opportunity to look into other sports."

(With PTI Inputs)