'Rohit and Dravid are in the saddle now. He knows he's an important player': Rathour identifies 'mature' India cricketer

Ever since the Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid era took over Indian cricket, there have been a few positive changes in the setup. The likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma have been excluded from the Test set-up, while Hanuma Vihari and youngster Shreyas Iyer have emerged to fore and gotten their long overdue run with the Test team. Furthermore, barring the South Africa tour, the results have been impressive with India yet to lose a match at home.

As India prepare for World Cups back-to-back years, it is important to identify players who are going to be in the scheme of things for the long run. Especially after Rohit’s reign as captain, India needs to find a long-term leader who can carry its cricketer into the future. On current form, there are three really strong candidates – KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, all three of whom are leading their respective franchises in the IPL.

All three cricketers are going to be an integral part in the next era of Indian cricket, especially Pant. There was a time between August of 2019 to October of 2020 when Pant was struggling with inconsistency but it all changes during India's tour of Australia, where he played a couple of sizzling innings to help India register a famous series win. From there, there has been no looking back for Pant. Today, he is an unmissable part of the current Indian team, so much so that batting coach Vikram Rathour has identified him as a 'mature' player who is no longer in the 'can be dropped' category.

"He has suddenly grown up. Rohit and Dravid are in the saddle now, and he knows he is an important player in the India setup. He has now matured as a player. He is getting better and better, but there is still a long way to cover," Rathour told The Week.

After MS Dhoni, India have longed for a finisher who could be as effective as the former India captain. While all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is equally capable of performing that role, Rathour has identified Pant as the one to take over that responsibility in the time to come. Pant has been experimented to bat at No. 4 on a few occasions but his true talent lies at either 5 or 6.

"He will be a finisher at number five or six, he knows that. Nobody is pushing him to get a hundred in ODIs. He will always be an impact player and if he is consistently getting 40-50 and winning it for the team, then that is fine," Rathour added.