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Rishabh Pant or KL Rahul? Lara's pick for India's wicketkeeper slot after Dhoni retirement

Pant, however, has been in good form in the IPL 2020, scoring 171 runs in the five matches he has played so far for the Delhi Capitals and Lara feels the Delhi star is the number one choice to replace MS Dhoni.

Rishabh Pant or KL Rahul? Laras pick for Indias wicketkeeper slot after Dhoni retirement

Bengaluru, October 7: Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara feels Rishabh Pant should be the number one choice as India's wicketkeeping option as he feels great batsman" KL Rahul shouldn't be bothered with wicket-keeping and should be allowed to concentrate on his batting.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the national team's number one choice as wicketkeeper for over the last decade, announced his retirement from international cricket in August. This opened up the slot for the role with gloves behind the stumps with Rahul, Pant and Sanju Samson fighting for the spot.

Pant was touted as Dhoni's successor but he hasn't been able to put up consistent performances and was replaced behind the stumps in New Zealand by KL Rahul, who did a decent job throughtout the series. Samson also failed in a few chances he was presented with earlier this year.

Pant, however, has been in good form in the IPL 2020, scoring 171 runs in the five matches he has played so far for the Delhi Capitals. Hence, Lara feels that Pant has matured in the past year and he should be considered as India's number one wicketkeeper-batsman.

"Rishabh Pant a year ago, I would say no, but I feel that he has stepped up in terms of his responsibility as a batsman. Look at how he plays for Delhi Capitals, it looks like he wants that responsibility, he wants that onus on him to score runs, build an innings and get big scores," said Lara while speaking on Star Sports Cricket Connected show.

"If he continues that way, I think that he should the number one," he added.

MS Dhoni's long-term replacement in Team India: Bangar, Nehra pick Rishabh PantMS Dhoni's long-term replacement in Team India: Bangar, Nehra pick Rishabh Pant

Earlier, former Indian players Sanjay Bangar and Ashish Nehra also agreed that Pant should be India's number one choice as Dhoni's replacement behind the stumps.

Meanwhile, Lara, who labelled Rahul as a "great batsman", says the Karnataka opener should just concentrate on his batting and not bother about wicketkeeping when it comes to cementing his place in the Indian team.

"Well, first of all I would like to say that KL Rahul should not be bothered with wicketkeeping when it comes to that Indian squad. He's such a great batsman that I feel that he should concentrate on that and put in a lot of runs on the board," Lara said.

Rahul, who is currently leading Kings XI Punjab in the IPL 2020, has scored 302 runs - including one hundred and two half-centuries - in five matches so far.

Talking about talented Sanju Samson, Lara said the 25-year-old needs to work on little chinks in his armoury.

"Sanju Samson, who is not keeping for Rajasthan Royals, but I do understand that he keeps, that's one of his main jobs - very classy player, looks good so far in the tournament in Sharjah.

"I feel there's a little chink in his armoury in terms of his technique against very good bowling on sporty tracks."

(With Agency inputs)

Story first published: Wednesday, October 7, 2020, 14:30 [IST]
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