'Let's Not Go That Far, Let Him Achieve Even Half Of What MS Dhoni Did’- Salman Butt On Mohammad Rizwan

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has refused to put current keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan in the same category as former India captain MS Dhoni when asked to compare the two, saying that it is still early days for Rizwan and let him achieve even half of what MS Dhoni did, before starting the compare the two keeper-batters.

Widely regarded as one of the sharpest minds in the sport, MS Dhoni-led the Indian team to three ICC title wins — the 2007 T20I World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. He ended his career after playing 90 Tests, 350 ODIs, and 98 T20Is, with over 10,000 runs in ODIs, with 10 centuries to his name.

His keeping skills made him stand out apart from being considered to be the greatest finisher in the limited-overs format. A few wicketkeeper-batters including Rishabh Pant have been compared with Dhoni so far and Mohammed Rizwan of Pakistan isn’t far off.

We Should Not Draw Such Big Comparisons At This Point In Time: Salman Butt On Comparison Between MS Dhoni And Mohammad Rizwan

Rizwan had a brilliant 2021 in T20Is, where he became the first batter to score over 1000 runs (1326) in one calendar year and was named the ICC T20I player of the year. He also scored2036 runs in 45 innings, at an average of 56.55 with a strike rate of 132.03 in all T20s in 2021.

However, former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt was wary of getting into comparing Mohammad Rizwan with MS Dhoni, who played from 2004-2019 for India, retiring from international cricket in 2020. He believes Rizwan still has a long way to go before he’s reckoned the best.

“Rizwan is a cool character… he’s a great captain in the making. But let’s not go that far. If he achieves even half of what Dhoni did, Rizwan will have a big name in international cricket. He is somebody who is very capable of doing that. Once things start to run over a period of time, who knows what’s the limit. But we should not draw such big comparisons at this point in time,” said Butt on his YouTube channel.

Rizwan made a new world record for the highest number of wicketkeeping dismissals in T20 cricket in a year. His 47 dismissals broke Dhoni’s record of 39 dismissals which the Indian icon had achieved back in 2016.

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