You have to stop comparing Rishabh Pant to MS Dhoni: Gautam Gambhir

Since his debut for India in 2017 against England, the young Rishabh Pant is deemed as the future of Indian cricket team. Rishabh has always been seen as a potential replacement for the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni and this has resulted in the former being under scanner for a major portion of his short international career.

Despite having a good start, the 23-year-old has failed to live up to the expectations both as a wicket-keeper and a batsman. Thus the batsman is struggling hard to find a place for himself in the Indian team for the limited-overs format. Speaking about the comparisons between Rishabh Pant and Dhoni, the former Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir opined that the media should stop comparing two players as this will put extra pressure on the youngster.

Gambhir further reckoned that MS is a player of a different league and Pant doesn’t need to be the second version of the former captain to be successful. Instead, the southpaw should try to improve his game and become the best version of himself. The veteran also feels that just because Pant can hit sixes, it would be completely unfair to compare him with MS.

Rishabh Pant has a lot to improve, says Gautam Gambhir

“You have to stop comparing Rishabh Pant that he is an alternative to MS Dhoni. That is one thing which first media needs to do it. Because the more media talks about it, the more he starts thinking on that front. He can never be MS Dhoni. He has to be Rishabh Pant.

“And, at the same time, MS Dhoni had so much of range when he came on the scene. And, Rishabh Pant, just because he can hit sixes, people started comparing him with MS Dhoni,” Gautam Gambhir told ESPNCricinfo. Talking about Rishabh Pant’s wicket-keeping skills, he stated that the Delhi Stalwart needs to do a lot of hard work to do justice with his job of donning the gloves. Also, as the bowlers are getting smarter, they try to bowl wider at the off-stump, which is his weak point.

“Rishabh Pant has a lot to improve, especially from the keeping point of view, but from the batting point as well. I hope he scores important runs today. But then if I see, the bowlers have got smarter, they have started bowling wider outside the off-stump and he has struggled. That’s the reason, first and foremost, people around him and in the media need to stop comparing him with MS Dhoni,” Gambhir added.