3 times Rishabh Pant reminded the world of MS Dhoni with his quick stumping
Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni are two of the most successful Indian wicket-keepers in cricket history. Dhoni achieved enormous success during his international career, executing 195 stumpings and taking 634 catches behind the stumps across all three formats of the game.
Many fans regard MS Dhoni as the best wicket-keeper in cricket history. Although his technique was not a conventional one, Dhoni surpassed many great wicket-keepers on the list of inflicting the most number of dismissals from behind the stumps. He had the safest pair of hands, and it was tough to escape from his lightning quick stumpings.
Rishabh Pant, meanwhile, has not had the best of starts to his wicket-keeping career. He had to fill in the big shoes of MS Dhoni. When Pant made a few errors at the start of his career, fans would chant Dhoni's name at the stadiums. Even on social media platforms, fans slammed Pant for his keeping errors.
However, Pant's wicket-keeping skills have improved by leaps and bounds as his career has progressed. Of late, he has executed some really quick stumpings, and fans even feel that some of his stumpings are near the speed of MS Dhoni.
Speaking of the Pant vs. Dhoni comparison, here are three such stumpings from the young Indian wicket-keeper that reminded the fans about his predecessor.
#1 Rishabh Pant's stumping against Bangladesh in Chattogram Test
Excellent work behind the stumps now from Pant, was lightening quick to dislodge the bails and Nurul is short of his crease !!
Bapuuuuuu strikes again , need 4 more wkts now
India’s recent Kryptonite Mehedy Hasan Miraz walks in https://t.co/3m4Ww7EgMQ
During the recently concluded ICC World Test Championship match between India and Bangladesh, Rishabh Pant stunned Bangladeshi player Nurul Hasan with his lightning quick stumping in the second innings.
Axar Patel bowled a fuller delivery on the off-stump line. The ball spun a bit and moved away from the right-handed Nurul Hasan. Rishabh was quick to pick the delivery, and in no time, he dislodged the bails off the stumps to dismiss Hasan.
It was a crucial moment in the innings as India went on to win the Test by a big margin.
#2 Pant's stumping against Punjab Kings in IPL 2019
Pant has executed 18 stumpings in the 98 IPL matches of his career so far. Two of them came in the IPL 2019 league stage match against the Punjab Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
The first batter to be stumped by Pant was Punjab Kings' star player KL Rahul. Nepalese spinner Sandeep Lamichhane was the bowler. Sandeep deceived Rahul with his leg-spin. In the blink of an eye, Pant took the bails off the stumps, forcing Rahul to return to the pavilion in the powerplay overs itself.
#3 Rishabh Pant's stumping against Punjab in IPL 2019
In the same match, Pant executed another fantastic stumping against the Punjab Kings. Experienced batter Mandeep Singh was his second victim. On the third ball of the 17th over, Axar Patel beat Singh with his left-arm spin.
Singh danced down the pitch and tried to smack the ball towards the covers but missed the shot. The ball went to wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who dislodged the bails and sent Singh back to the dressing room.