Ind vs Eng Test series | 'Rishabh Pant's leadership skills will come to fore': Saba Karim

India’s Rishabh Pant during the fifth Test against Australia at Sydney in January. Pic/AFP

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Syed Saba Karim is confident that while Rishabh Pant will perform as both, batter and stumper, more importantly, his vice-captaincy will also play a key role for the Shubman Gill-led side during the England series. India will play the first of five Tests at Leeds, starting on Friday.

"I'm sure about Rishabh. I'm very confident that he will not only be an important performer for the Indian side [as batter and wicketkeeper], but also his leadership skills, being vice-captain, will also come to the fore," Karim told mid-day on Tuesday. Pant, 27, has represented the country in 43 Tests, scoring 2,948 runs, including six centuries.

Saba Karim

"Shubman and Rishabh have played together. So, he knows the kind of inputs Rishabh can offer. And both can then strategise accordingly, I'm sure this will be effective for the team. India have managed to win only thrice [in England]; the first was in 1971, then 1986 and 2007. So, since 2007 till date, it's been a huge gap, so, hopefully, this transition can prove fruitful. Even if we don't win the series, we can at least draw it," added Karim, 57.

The former stumper insisted that India's batters will have an important role to play. "This is a very strong English batting side, but their bowling looks quite inexperienced. So, if India's young batters can put up a good score on the board, I'm sure we can do well. I'm backing [Abhimanyu] Easwaran to open the innings with [Yashasvi] Jaiswal. I feel players, who have done well at the domestic level for a number of years, who have done well for India ‘A', whenever India has toured in SENA [South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia] countries, should be given enough opportunities. I believe Easwaran has the technique and temperament to succeed in these conditions. Also, I feel Shubman should focus on his batting because that's the reason he's in the team. If he scores runs, captaincy will be a smooth affair too," Karim signed off.