You have to stop saying that Rishabh Pant is the next MS Dhoni: Gautam Gambhir
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir is of the opinion that Delhi Capitals and India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant shouldnot be compared with former Indian skipper MS Dhoni. Pant had burst on to the scene due to his incredible six-hitting ability, and there have been comparisons with Dhoni ever since.
However, the 23-year-old has not made the most of his chances over the past 12 months and eventually got dropped from India's white-ball squads for the tour of Australia.
Even in IPL 2020 so far, the southpaw has scored only 285 runs at a strike rate of 109, which is poor by his standards. Gambhir believes that Pant must just focus on his strengths and not try to fill in the shoes of the 39-year-old.
“First of all, you have to stop saying that Rishabh Pant is the next MS Dhoni. That is one thing which media needs to stop doing it. The more media talks about it, the more Rishabh Pant starts thinking on those chances. He can never be MS Dhoni. He has to be Rishabh Pant,” Gautam Gambhir told ESPNCricinfo.
Rishabh Pant has to improve a lot: Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir stated that Dhoni, when he burst on to the international scene, had a wide range of shots and was a clean striker of the ball. Pant on the other hand, needs to work a lot on his batting as well as his wicketkeeping. Although both of them have the gift of hitting huge sixes, Gambhir believes that Rishabh Pant needs to improve a lot if he wants to be anywhere near a good wicketkeeper-batsman like Dhoni.
“MS Dhoni probably had so much of range when he came on to international scene. With Rishabh Pant, only because he could hit those big sixes and stuff, people started comparing him with someone like MS Dhoni. Rishabh Pant has a lot to improve, especially from the keeping point of views and from the batting point of view as well,” Gautam Gambhir said.
Having flopped in IPL 2020 so far, Pant will have to step up in DC's knockout game against the winner of the Eliminator between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore.