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.