Niroshan Dickwella and Rishabh Pant. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Indian wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant is currently going through his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru following his horrific car accident on December 30, 2022. The southpaw has shown great progress in his recovery and has begun facing 140 kph-plus deliveries in the nets. However, despite showing positive signs, Pant won’t be seen on the cricket pitch for some more months.
Pant’s massive hits are being missed by his fans worldwide, one of whom is Sri Lankan wicketkeeper batter Niroshan Dickwella. Recently, the Sri Lankan cricketer wished for a speedy recovery of the Indian wicketkeeper batter and called him the best attacking wicketkeeper-batter in the world.
“As an aggressive player, I like Rishabh Pant. Rishabh is the best attacking wicketkeeper-batter at the moment. I hope he recovers and gets back in the team soon,” Dickwella told timesofindia.com in an interview.
Pant’s services were badly missed by India during the World Test Championship final 2023 against Australia. The high voltage clash was played in England where Southpaw has two hundreds and two fifties to his name. His absence led to India losing the game by 209 runs as they failed to chase the target of 444 runs in the fourth innings.
KL Rahul, Sanju Samson or Ishan Kishan to be India’s wicketkeeper in WC
The 25-year-old will be once again missed in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023 scheduled to be played in India from October 05. In his absence, the onus will be on KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan or Sanju Samson to take up the wicketkeeping duties. Rahul is recovering from a thigh injury he sustained during the IPL 2023 hence it would be interesting to see if he would be given the role with the gloves on his comeback.
On the other hand, Kishan and Samson have shined in the limited opportunities they’ve got and are giving their all to seal their spot in the World Cup squad. With the World Cup being played at home, the Men in Blue are under tremendous pressure to lift the trophy and end their ten-year-long ICC trophy drought.