After a series of poor performances by the young Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, one of the world’s best wicketkeeper-batsman, Adam Gilchrist has a bit of advice to the young lad. The former Australian cricketer believes Pant should be himself and not try to be MS Dhoni. Moreover, he feels that Indian fans should avoid comparing Pant with Dhoni.
Don’t compare Pant to Dhoni: Gilly
Ever since the former captain and wicket-keeper MS Dhoni has decided to temporarily shift his presence from cricket, there have been questions about who would be Mahi’s replacement in the Indian team. For a time being, MS Dhoni was replaced by Rishabh Pant in all formats of the game. However, his poor batting, wicket-keeping skills or more recently, be his role when it comes to reviews have raised many eyebrows among the fans and the selectors.
After Rishabh Pant’s poor performance since the 50 over world cup, Adam Gilchrist has a bit of advice to the 22-year-old. The former cricketer believes that Pant should not try to be the next MS Dhoni and instead should work on developing his own game and being the best version of himself. He also asked fans not to pressurize the young cricketer as he is in the initial stage of his career.
“Rishabh looks like a very talented young player. Just don’t put too much pressure on him too early and expect that he’s going to produce Dhoni-like performances every day,” he said.
“I am not big on comparisons like I said before. I think Indian fans should not try to associate him with Dhoni. MSD has set such a high benchmark. One day someone might match it but it is probably unlikely,” he added.
I never copied Ian Healy
Talking about his own experience in the Australian cricket, Gilchrist said he never tried to copy Ian Healy (wicket-keeper before Gilchrist) when he came into the national team.
“I know from personal experience, I went after Ian Healy, who was picked in the best Test cricket team in Australia. I just didn’t want to try to be Ian Healy. I wanted to learn from him but I wanted to be Adam Gilchrist and that would be my advice to Rishabh,” he said.
“My advice to Rishab Pant would be to learn everything you possibly can, work as hard as you can but don’t try to be MS Dhoni. Just try to be the best Rishabh Pant,” he said.
