Pant to take gloves at Chennai in 1st test against England
- EP News Service
- Feb 04, 2021
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CHENNAI: After his spectacular performance in Australia, Rishabh Pant
who has earned lot of laurels from every quarter was given an added
responsibility to keep wickets in the opening test against England in Chennai,
which begins on Friday.
Last month Pant impressed everyone with his impressive
batting in India’s historic series win in Sydney and Brisbane against Australia
where he made 97 and 89 not out to help India pull off an epic 2-1 test series
win.
At a pre-match press conference India captain Virat Kohli
today on confirmed that Rishabh Pant will keep wickets in the opening test
against England. "Rishabh will take the gloves tomorrow. He has had impact
performances in Australia recently. He is in good space. We want him to build
on this along with him improving all aspects of the game, which will happen
with more game time,” Kohli said.
Although Saha with his neat glove work has been preferred in
India, especially effective while keeping to spinners, however Pant has clearly
caught the attention of everyone after Saha's twin failures in India's
humiliating defeat in the first Test in Adelaide.
Kohli said that though Pant did drop some catches in
Australia, he brings in a lot of value to this team, and he will continue to be
backed because he's an impact player.
The four-Test series between India and England will be very significant
since the three teams’ World Test Championship fates hanging in the balance.
New Zealand has already qualified for the final of the inaugural edition of the
World Test Championship.
They will be joined by either of the three i.e. India, England, or Australia, however for
England to qualify and join New Zealand, they will have to win the series
against India by 3-1, 3-0 or 4-0 margin.
India is currently at the top spot with a PCT of 71.7 per
cent, following their 2-1 series triumph in Australia. They will have to win
the series against England by 2-1, 2-0, 3-1, 3-0 or 4-0, margin to book their
place in final.
Australia sits third on 69.2 per cent of total points contested.
They can qualify for the much anticipated ICC WTC final if the series between
India and England ends up as a drawn series, or if India win the series 1-0 or
England win it by 1-0, 2-1 or 2-1 margin.
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