Former India cricketer Suresh Raina feels that Rishabh Pant will be quite an important player for the team in the upcoming series against South Africa. Notably, the wicketkeeper-batter is set to make his much-awaited return to international cricket with the series. He had been out of action since July as he had sustained a toe fracture during the Manchester Test against England.
Raina pointed out that the stadiums where the two matches will take place are small and thus, Pant's explosive batting style will help him score a lot of runs at both the venues. He further remarked that Jasprit Bumrah will be the Men in Blue's "standout player" in the series.
“I think the standout player from India will be Jasprit Bumrah, because the matches in both the grounds will start at 8.30 am. You will get to see a different kind of reverse swing, red ball alag tarah se chalegi, and Kuldeep Yadav. And the biggest X-factor will be Rishabh Pant, because Rishabh Pant has a different kind of batting style. Because the runs will be made with a lot of force, both the grounds are very small," Raina said on Star Sports.
Nayar also backs Pant to deliver
Former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar was also a part of the conversation and predicted both Pant and Shubman Gill to be team's standout players against South Africa. While Pant has been out of action for quite some time, Gill has been nothing short of incredible for India with the bat in Test cricket. He first scored four centuries against England in the Anderson-tendulkar Trophy before hitting another in the two-match Test series against West Indies.
“The standout player for me, always when it comes to Test Match Cricket, there are two people actually, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant," Nayar stated.
South Africa's gruelling tour of India
Meanwhile, after the conclusion of the two-match Test series, India and South Africa will be locking horns against each other in three ODIs and five T20Is. The gruelling assignment will go on till December 19 and will be both the teams' final assignment of the year.
India's squad for South Africa Tests: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK) (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep.