'He is not a natural': Ravi Shastri reveals his final verdict on Rishabh Pant's wicketkeeping abilities

Team India head coach Ravi Shastri has once again voiced his opinion on Rishabh Pant, who has been receiving a lot of criticism from the fans for his recent performances.

Ever since Pant was brought in as Dhoni's replacement in the national side, he has faced a lot of criticism from fans.

The southpaw's form with the bat, wicket-keeping skills and his suggestion to skipper over DRS calls have all been below average and has caused a lot of people to raise fingers towards his selection in the national side.

Shastri has previously said that how he knows Pant has a lot of potential but currently needs time to settle into the current Indian setup.

However, the Indian head coach has now claimed that the 22-year-old need to “work really hard” on his wicketkeeping skills.

“He has to work really hard on his wicketkeeping,” Shastri told The Hindu during an interview.

“He is not a natural ‘keeper but he’s got all that talent which will go to waste if he doesn’t work on his keeping. I think he has realized that and if you see him now, he is working extremely hard on his ‘keeping as well,” he added.

The 57-year-old also gave an insight on how he deals with hard-hitting Pant in training. 

“I would not like to change his game for anything. We tell him to try and understand his game, be selective in shot-making, see what the team demands are, assess the state of the game, figure out a way of how he can play — by still being aggressive but by taking calculated risks," said Shastri.

"He has a reputation of being a devastating player, big hitter. That is what he has to get used to."

"Every time he comes to bat, the crowd expects sixes off everything. This is where he has to manage his game properly,” he added.

Pant recently lost his spot as India's first-choice wicketkeeper in white-ball cricket to KL Rahul, who has been performing exceptionally on the pitch for the past few months now.

The left-handed batsman picked up a concussion during India's first ODI clash against Australia and was ruled out for the final two matches of the series.

Due to his injury, KL took on the wicketkeeping job for the 'Men In Blue' and performed brilliantly to help his side secure the three-match ODI series against the Aussies 2-1.