MSK Prasad feels Rishabh Pant would be better if he can learn this trick from Saha

Team India's chief selector MSK Prasad had a piece of advice for young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and felt that the swashbuckling talent would definitely do well if he heeded to it. Making it clear on multiple occasions that Rishabh Pant is the side's first-choice wicketkeeper in the limited-overs formats of the game, MSK Prasad had recently revealed that Pant would be put under a specialist wicketkeeper to hone his skills behind the stumps. Skipper Virat Kohli and the team management have backed Pant on many occasions and are giving him his time and space to learn the game and become more mature. Rishabh Pant looked like he found touch during the ODIs against the West Indies, where he displayed his skills as a power hitter and even got a half-century. However, his skills behind the wickets has not been accurate and is often sloppy, as the youngster dropped four catches in the ODI at Cuttack. 

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Prasad wants Pant to relax like Saha

Speaking to a news daily, MSK Prasad advised Pant to relax like Saha and said that the wicketkeeper-batsman would be better then. Prasad pointed out how Pant's early entry into the Indian side had stripped him of the opportunity to play ta the domestic level. Hinting at the lapses in Pant's form, both with the ball and the gloves, MSK Prasad said that pressure adversely affected his form and that his keeping and batting were co-related and had an impact on each other. Hence, Prasad felt that the only way to come out of this situation is to relax and thereby Pant should learn the technique from the experienced Saha. Prasad drew a comparison between the ball striking the middle of the bat and the ball taken in the middle of the gloves (by the keeper) and said that they are equivalent in terms of judging the batting and keeping respectively. 

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'Pant needs to improve his keeping skills': MSK Prasad

"Pant needs to improve his keeping skills. We will have him work under a specialist wicket-keeping coach," Prasad told reporters here after the Indian team selection for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka and Australia.

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While he has received unflinching backing from the team management, it has come to the conclusion that Pant needs special attention. Pant has also been criticized for his failure to perform consistently at the top level. Home crowds chanted MS Dhoni's name when Pant had an ordinary outing behind the wickets in the recently-concluded series against Bangladesh and the West Indies.

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