Former Indian batter Suresh Raina has heaped praise on the Indian keeper-batter Rishabh Pant, calling him his favourite player. While Pant has been a regular in the Indian Test squad, he lost his spot in the limited-overs squads.
Speaking in an interaction with the former Indian opening batter Aakash Chopra on YouTube, Raina reckoned that Pant will mature in white-ball and IPL formats in the coming years, adding that he needs to find a good mentor to improve himself. Pant has scored 3,725 runs in 52 Test matches at an average of 43.82 and a strike rate of 74.16, with eight centuries and 21 half-centuries.
“He has worked hard. I am very happy. Everyone does well, but he is one of the best. He is my favourite player. He is scoring a lot in Tests. He has that X factor. I think he will mature in white-ball and IPL as well. He has done really well. I don’t know why he is not there in one-day cricket. Maybe he is still searching for things. He needs to figure it out. Sometimes players have that blockage. If he tries and spends time with someone, he can. Let him be free. He can achieve a lot. His time will come,” Raina said on Chopra’s YouTube channel.
Further, Raina also advised the limited-overs heroes Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to play Test cricket. While Sharma has played 24 red-ball games, amassing 1071 runs, Sooryavanshi has scored 347 runs from 10 red-ball games.
“I feel Abhishek Sharma should play Test cricket. Vaibhav is very young. Does he want to play? What do his coaches think? These are questions. I feel he should play. Are the IPL owners and associations also thinking of this and putting Test cricket in players’ minds? Coaches also have a role here,” he added.
