Rishabh Pant gets caught in the euphoria of comparisons with MS Dhoni: MSK Prasad

MSK Prasad, the former chief of Team India’s selection panel, said that constant comparisons with MS Dhoni is doing no good to Rishabh Pant. Ever since Dhoni played the 2019 World Cup semis against New Zealand, Pant is being touted as the future of Indian wicketkeeping, but the youngster has faltered, both with the bat and with the keeping gloves.

Pant has often been criticised for throwing his wicket away in crunch moments of an encounter. Prasad, also a former Indian cricketer, also said that Pant tends to get carried away due to all the chaos surrounding him in terms of filling Dhoni’s massive boots.

Rishabh Pant always was in this shadow of MSD, says Prasad

“Every time when Rishabh steps in, he is always compared with MS Dhoni, and probably, he is also getting caught in that euphoria. Many times, we spoke to him that he has to get over it,” Prasad was quoted as saying in a chat with Sportskeeda.

Prasad said that Pant tries to copy Dhoni’s mannerism. “He always was in this shadow of MSD. He started comparing himself with him. He started sort of copying him, even in mannerisms and all, if you see the way he does all that sort of stuff,” he stated.

Pant made his debut for the Indian team way back in 2017 during a T20I against England at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. However, it was only after his Test debut versus the same opposition in 2018 in Nottingham that he started getting regular chances.

In Test cricket, Pant has centuries at the Kennington Oval and at the Sydney Cricket Ground. But to his sheer dismay, he hasn’t been able to replicate the same form in the shorter formats. Barring a decent knock here and there, he has mostly been under the pump.

From January onwards, Pant has also had to warm the benches after India roped in KL Rahul as their regular keeper in  ODIs and T20Is. The southpaw is now set to play in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he represents the Delhi Capitals (DC), led by Shreyas Iyer.