Rishabh Pant has emerged as a true gem that comes along once in a long while for India. The 23-year-old has proved his mettle time and again through his phenomenal performances at venues home and away that shows his class as a generation-defining cricketer. 

Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel was all praises for the Delhi boy as he called Pant the ‘future of Indian cricket’, especially having witnessed his performances Down Under against Australia and at home against England.

Parthiv spoke on ‘The Curtly and Karishma Show’ about his observations on Pant’s consistency with the bat and the drastic improvement behind the stumps during the 2018-19 Test series in Australia. He mentioned that the youngster is always willing to improve on his game, be it batting more responsibly or his wicketkeeping skills.

“Rishabh Pant is the future of Indian cricket. He is fearless. What I really like about him. When I was a standby wicketkeeper on a tour in 2018 and he was the first-choice keeper, his attitude and will to improve his wicketkeeping all the time. He worked really hard on his wicketkeeping. He kept brilliantly on the turning wickets in the India-England home series,” the former Indian keeper explained.

No wonder all these traits and more have contributed to Pant being named as Team India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman across all formats of the game. 

Parthiv also believed that Pant has a natural knack for coming up with absolute match-winning performances with the bat almost as if he understood the game differently than everyone else. 

There is no doubt that Pant’s brand of cricket is surely inspirational and gutsy apart from his work on the field that gets the job done. He has shown the world more than a few times as to why he is the name the doctor orders for every time India finds itself in a tricky situation out there in the middle. 

“He is taking more responsibility while batting. He is playing match-winning knocks in Test cricket. That is something that defines a cricketer,” Parthiv concluded by appreciating Pant’s heroics over the years but most importantly reminding the world to watch out for this fearless young talent who doesn’t think twice before scripting history. 

Currently, Pant is on his second England tour and is an integral part of Shastri-Kohli’s outfit for the 5-match Test series showdown against the hosts. The tour starts on August 4 at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Pant has rejoined the squad after a period of isolation as a part of his recovery from Covid-19.