Is Rishabh Pant in line to emulate the great Adam Gilchrist?
Adam Gilchrist and Rishabh Pant are two swashbuckling left-handed batters come wicketkeeper. They are both capable of turning a match around with the willow. Rishabh Pant has shown enough promise for people to start drawing comparisons with the great Adam Gilchrist.
Gilchrist was a tremendous batter in a world-beating Australian Test side. His average at one stage went up to 60, before settling at 47.60 at the time of his retirement. He scored 5,570 runs in his 96 Tests, blasting 17 centuries, at a startling strike-rate of 81.95. These, we must remember, were pre-Twenty20 days.
The epoch under Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting was that of aggressive batsmanship, and leading the charge in the middle was Gilchrist. He was explosive.
A sample of 31 Tests is a good one, and Pant has already scored 2,123 runs at an average of 43.32, with five hundreds. He has a very good strike-rate of 72.65, but has a lot of catching up to do with Gilchrist.
Pant is still not 25 years old, and if he keeps up his form, is likely to have many more Tests and runs to his name than Gilchrist. Will he match the Australian great in terms of average and strike-rate, is the question.
Pant has already played some scintillating innings in Tests, rescuing his side from precarious situations with his inimitable bold methods. He has been guilty of rushing out and playing pre-meditated rash shots, but has matured of late. The act of taking his bottom hand off the bat handle is to keep the willow straight and not go across the line, which would result in him holing out on the on-side.
Gilchrist was always assured with the gloves, bringing off 379 catches and effecting 37 stumpings. These were record dismissals until Mark Boucher passed him.
Pant’s wicketkeeping was woefully below Test standards. Had it not been for his batting, he would have had to make way for Wriddhiman Saha, India's veteran keeper.
Just as Pant’s batting has matured, so has his glove-work. He already has 111 catches and 11 stumpings in his bag. He is a more finished product now, and a complete package as far as his team is concerned.
It is a tall order for Rishabh Pant to match the deeds of Gilchrist at ODI World Cups
In One Day Internationals, Gilchrist was awesome at the top of the order, in tandem first with Mark Waugh and then Matthew Hayden. He was a big part of Australia winning all three World Cup tournaments (1999, 2003 and 2007).
A blistering knock of 149 in the 2007 final against Sri Lanka virtually sealed the game. Gilchrist smashed 9,619 runs in 287 One Day internationals at an average of 35.89 and a strike-rate of 96.94, with 16 centuries.
Gilchrist finished with 417 catches and 55 stumpings in One Day Internationals. Again, this was a record before Kumar Sangakkara raced ahead. Mahendra Singh Dhoni follows close on the heels of Gilchrist.
For Pant, these are early days in ODIs, having appeared in just 24 so far. He has racked up 715 runs, averaging 32.50 with a strike-rate of 109.32 and a highest score of 85. So far, he has 20 scalps, 19 catches and one stumping.
Doubtlessly, he has big boots to fill. Can Pant meet the standards set by Gilchrist at ODI World Cups?
It is a very tall order indeed. There is little doubt that Pant is hugely talented with the bat. His pyrotechnics with the bat draw attention, but he has good defense as well.
This enables him to settle down at the crease before launching into those big shots. His glove-work too has improved massively. It is now up to him to figure out his future.