India vs England: We want Rishabh Pant to keep improving as a wicketkeeper, says Virat Kohli

Team India skipper Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin heaped praise on wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for his much-improved performance behind the stumps in the second Test against England in Chennai.

Pant has been criticised in the past for his wicketkeeping skills but he turned things around at Chepauk with a couple of brilliant catches and was also efficient against the spinners on a track which offered a lot of turn for the likes of Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.

He also produced two stumping in the final innings off Ashwin and Kuldeep's bowling.

"Rishabh Pant has really worked hard in Australia, when he moves with the gloves you can see the difference in his reflexes and reactions. He has shed a lot of weight and has worked hard on himself.

"It is showing, the way he kept with so much turn and bounce, credit to him. We want him to keep improving as a keeper because we know the value he brings to the team," Kohli said pf pant during the post-match presentation ceremony.

'PANT AN EXCELLENT CRICKETER'

Player of the Match Ashwin also lauded Pant for the way he performed behind the stumps in this match.

"Rishabh Pant is an excellent cricketer. There are many more excellent excellent cricketers who are there in the squad and outside of the team scheme as well. They are all excellent cricketers. We believe they are excellent. That is why they end up playing for the country. And when they play for the country, it is almost as if we are searching for what is wrong with them.

"Rishabh Pant was always going to be a good cricketer, he was always going to improve. Only if we back them in such a way that they can improve, they will improve faster. But if you are going to find those loopholes and faults, cricketers are going to take that much longer.

"It is more of a mindset issue for us. As a community we should be able to embrace how good a cricketer is. We can [choose to] see a lot of positives, but we tend to choose the negatives. If we see a lot more positives, we will see a lot more champion cricketers," Ashwin told reporters.

India beat England by 317 runs on Tuesday to level the four-match Test series 1-1. The win helped move India into second place on the ICC World Test Championship standings. The hosts need a 2-1 or 3-1 series’ result to qualify and play New Zealand in the final. England needs a 3-1 result to qualify for the final.

The third and fourth tests will be played in Ahmedabad. The third test will be a pink ball, day-night affair and starts on Feb. 24.