Mumbai: The mountain of runs that he has plundered so far in first-class cricket has ensured that the focus is trained on young Rishabh Pant as India A get ready to take on visiting England in the second and final warm-up match here tomorrow.
This will be the last practice game before the six-match limited overs series – three ODIs and as many T20Is – begins with the first ODI in Pune on Sunday.
Pant, who was part of the India U-19 squad that finished runner-up to the West Indies in the last junior World Cup, has impressed one and all with his exploits in recent times.
His 308 against Maharashtra at almost run-a-ball, an innings that contained as many as 9 sixes and 42 fours, at the beginning of this Ranji Trophy season was followed by another blistering three-figure knock against Jharkhand, which helped him earn a call-up to the India T20 squad for T20 Internationals against England.
The pint-sized wicketkeeper, who is seen by many as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s successor, should relish the Brabourne Stadium track that afforded good bounce and on which the ball came on nicely in last night’s day/night practice game, which England won.
