After a stellar domestic season with the bat, young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant gets maiden call up to the Indian team for the upcoming T20s against England
Rishabh Pant
India’s wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant during the ICC U-19 World Cup semi-final match against Sri Lanka last year. Pic/Getty Images
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Rishabh Pant blazed away to 43 off 14 balls for Reliance 1 against Tata Sports Club at the DY Patil Stadium in Nerul yesterday. The left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman put on an entertaining exhibition as he cleared the boundary five times. Where does he get that power from? "I just try to play down the ground during practice," he told reporters, after receiving a maiden call up to the Indian team for the T20s against England. "I’m pretty happy with my selection and I am enjoying it," Pant added. In eight matches in the Ranji Trophy this season, Pant piled 972 runs at an average of 81.00 with four centuries and a best of 308. What makes it more astonishing is that his strike-rate for the season was 107.28. "I worked on my fitness along with my wicketkeeping and batting. That (fitness) is what is helping me out. I had a good off-season with my trainer," Pant explained.
Pant will now have a chance to share the dressing room with MS Dhoni. "I have been trying to learn from Dhoni bhai since a long time. Now that I have a chance, I will get to learn a lot about wicketkeeping. He will also improve the mindset," Pant said. The journey has only started for the youngster who aspires to play Test cricket. "Whoever gets picked for India in any format will be happy. There are preferences for the three formats but my coach wants me to play Test cricket and I too want to achieve that," he says.
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