"Pant is the guy" - When an England cricketer made a spot-on prediction on MS Dhoni's replacement in the Indian team
Team India's dashing keeper-batter Rishabh Pant has done an excellent job since taking over the reins from MS Dhoni, especially in Test cricket. He hasn't been able to match the legend's consistency in white-ball cricket but has given enough glimpses of his potential, which is why the management continues to back him as the primary stumper across formats.
A great player like Dhoni can never be replaced. However, it's credit to Pant's talent and temperament that India haven't missed the former captain to the extent they were expected to when he hung up his boots. Pant came in and fit into the role rather seamlessly.
Interestingly, in 2017, England cricketer Sam Billings accurately predicted Pant as Dhoni's replacement in international cricket. Billings was part of the Delhi franchise in the IPL, and the young Indian keeper-batter was his teammate. In an interview to Scroll, Billings had praised the stumper:
“There is Rishabh Pant, who without doubt is the best young player I have ever seen. He is phenomenal, both as a batsman and a keeper, just looking at the way he has done in these first few games. He was standing up to the stumps, almost Dhoni-esque. There is no doubt in my mind that once MS Dhoni hangs his boots, Pant is the guy (to replace him). Big words I know, but you just see him, and it is there.
“The first time I saw him at training was last year, in a squad game. Nathan Coulter-Nile and Chris Morris were bowling, and he was hitting them to the top tier of the (Feroz Shah) Kotla. And I remember thinking, ‘Jesus, this guy is (just) 19’,” the wicketkeeper-batter added.
Pant made his international debut for India in a T20I against England in Bengaluru in February 2017. He was handed his Test and ODI debuts a year later. Dhoni retired from Test cricket in 2014 and from international cricket in 2020, having last played for India in 2019.
A glance at Rishabh Pant's record in international cricket
Pant is part of the Indian playing XI for the ongoing Test against Australia in Brisbane being played as part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In 41 Test innings, he has scored 2,789 runs at an average of 42.25, with six hundreds and 14 fifties. The left-hander has scored 871 runs in 31 ODIs, averaging 33.50 and 1,209 runs in 76 T20Is at a strike rate of 127.26.