Veteran cricketer Dinesh Karthik heaped effusive praise on India’s young sensation Rishabh Pant, saying he is well on his way to join the legendary MS Dhoni as one of the great wicketkeeper-batters to have played the game.
Karthik’s remarks came after Pant produced another eye-catching performance in Tests on Day 2 of the D/N fixture against Sri Lanka in Bangalore this Sunday.
The aggressive left-hander blasted a 31-ball 50 on a turning pitch versus the Sri Lankans, backing his game-transforming 39 off 26 deliveries in the first-innings of the Test match.
“Rishabh Pant is undoubtedly on his road to stardom. Unless he has a comprehensive wicketkeeping career for India, I reckon he may join MS Dhoni as one of the greats. These two will go down as a legend as two of India’s best wicketkeepers,”
Karthik was quoted as saying by CricAddictor.
The Dhoni comparison has been rife for a while ever since Pant has come into his own as India’s first-choice Test wicketkeeper-batter. The 24-year-old has made a resounding comeback to the side after being dropped in the 2019-20 season.
Pant dominated in Sydney and Gabba and played two critical innings in India’s historic 2-1 Test series victory Down Under last winter, before going on to smash England in home conditions to help his team coast to the World Test Championship final in the UK.
Pant didn’t have the best of times in England, including the Pataudi Trophy, and the first couple of Tests in South Africa. But quickly made amends with an exhilarating hundred in the third Test in Cape Town in January.
That hundred also saw Pant become the first Indian wicketkeeper-batter ever to record Test centuries in England, Australia and South Africa – three of the toughest terrains for any Asian batter.
Since the start of 2021, he is averaging 43.08 – which is remarkable for a wicketkeeper, especially someone with Pant’s naturally attacking style with the bat. He has made 1,077 runs in this phase with two hundreds and seven half-centuries.
