India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant may have drawn criticism from fans over his poor batting performance on Day 1 of the 2024 Duleep Trophy at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where the India B batter scored just seven runs off 10 balls against India A, but he sent a timely reminder to the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee on Friday with a stunning redemption act.
It happened in the 16th over of India A’s innings when Navdeep Saini, who dismissed India B skipper Shubman Gill in his previous over, dished out a length ball, which angled down to the leg side as batter Mayank Agarwal looked to glance it. However, the opener ended up getting a faint edge that carried behind and wicketkeeper Pant, who made a stunning diving effort towards his left, grabbed the delivery with both hands to complete the dismissal.
Pant criticised for his batting
Earlier on Thursday, on the opening day of the domestic red-ball tournament, Pant was dismissed for just seven runs, while trying to clear the mid-off region for a boundary, only to be stopped by a sensational effort from Gill to take a catch. Following the dismissal, fans on social media showed no mercy to the India star, who featured in his first red-ball game his car accident in since December 2022, with most urging chief selector Agarkar to pick Dhruv Jurel as the first-choice wicketkeeper, after the youngster impressed with a stunning show with the gloves for India A
Pant, who is raring to make the India Test squad for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh at home, starting September 19, will be in direct competition with Jurel, who impressed the selectors with a striking performance in his debut appearance in the home Test series against England earlier this year. In four innings during that contest, he scored 190 runs at 63.33 with a match-winning half-century knock in Ranchi, which had earned him a Player of the Match award.
