Is he ‘a keeper'?

Rishabh Pant’s exploits with the bat are accompanied by subpar glove-work, and this puts the team management in a dilemma

- NEERU BHATIA

Spiderman, Spiderman... Rishabh Pant was heard singing from behind the stumps on the fourth day of Brisbane Test match. He was not randomly humming the Spiderman theme, but was egging on off-spinner Washington Sundar. Aise web pheko web, aise karke phishh... (catch them in a web of spin) was his advice to the debutant bowler. Pant was back in his element; chirpy and spirited right up till he hit the winning runs at the Gabba to help India retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

But, till the second Test in Melbourne, the baby-faced wicketkeeper-batsman had little to cheer about. His Indian Premier League season with the Delhi Capitals was subpar; he was dropped from India’s white-ball squads, and senior wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha was preferred in the first Test in Adelaide. Pant played the second Test in Melbourne and—apart from dropping Pat Cummins off R. Ashwin in the second innings— the match went without major mishaps for the 23-year-old.

The third Test in Sydney, however, was a horror show from Pant the wicketkeeper. He dropped debutant Will Pucovski twice (the Aussie made a half-century) during the rain-affected session on day one. First off Ashwin (on 26) and then in a botched-up juggling effort three overs later (on 32) to deny pacer Mohammed Siraj a wicket. Pant redeemed himself with the bat in the second innings. Sent in by captain Ajinkya Rahane at No 5, Pant scored a counterattacking 97 which helped India draw the match from a disadvantageous position. He took it a step further with his 89 not out in Brisbane.