Pant should have kept wickets: Mohammad Azharuddin

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin feels that Rishabh Pant needs to improve his glove-work. Azhar said he was not impressed by Pant’s glove-work in England and needs to improve his keeping skills by doing so on a regular basis to get better

In the first T20 International against the West Indies on Sunday, Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin feels that Rishabh Pant needs to improve his glove-work. According to him, the young stumper should have kept wickets instead of Dinesh Karthik.

"I honestly feel Rishabh Pant should have kept wickets today. When you're a keeper you got to keep wickets," Azhar told reporters at the end of the West Indies' innings.

West Indies were restricted to a paltry 109/8 in 20 overs after skipper Rohit Sharma elected to field first.

Pant, played as a specialist batsman instead of keeping wickets for his squad. The 21-year-old is expected to take over the gloves from MS Dhoni when the latter calls it a day.

Azhar said he was not impressed by Pant’s glove-work in England and needs to improve his keeping skills by doing so on a regular basis to get better.

"He is a good player. He has done well. The more he keeps wickets, the more he will learn. I think his keeping needs to improve a lot. In England, he batted well but his keeping left a lot to be desired," added the 55-year old.

Kuldeep Yadav returned superb figures of 3/13 in his four overs on Sunday, also completing 100 wickets in T20 cricket. Now he is bowling well and improving every day. In the years to come he will be a major force," Azhar said.

Praising stand-in captain Rohit Sharma,Azhar termed the  Mumbai batsman as a "cool" customer.

"He is calm and cool. Whenever he is given a chance, he has proved that he is a good captain. In the Asia Cup also, he did really well. He is improving every day. He is a very cool captain. India has a good chance in Australia. We have good batsmen and bowlers. If we can combine both together and do well, we have a chance," he said.

Azhar added that the West Indies players lacked intent on Sunday and made too many mistakes.

"Their batting has been very poor. There is no direction. The effort is not there. Sometimes you need to use common sense. I thought they would bat wall today but they played too many shots too often."

The second T20I is will be held at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on November 6.