Opinion: Can Rishabh Pant become the successor of Adam Gilchrist?

Updated - 20 Aug 2018, 05:52 PM

Rishabh Pant, Adam Gilchrist
Reuters

Rishabh Pant is the latest headliner alongside Hardik Pandya in world cricket. The Delhi youngster showed the world what he is capable of doing in the International cricket. He made his way into the team with an assured certificate by India’s legend Rahul Dravid. Rightly, he showed all the glimpses of becoming a vital cog for India in Tests.

The stylish southpaw smacked the second ball of his innings to a massive six thus saying a hello to the Test cricket. He went on to play his strokes with a massive confidence and ended up throwing many similarities to Australia’s great Adam Gilchrist.

Adam Gilchrist was the best for Australia during his times:

The classy yet aggressive Adam Gilchrist is the iconic wicketkeeper who changed the style of playing in Test cricket. His amazing skills to score quick runs and is the best behind the stumps, the world cricket hailed him as the best wicketkeeper-batsman.

Adam Gilchrist, Rishabh Pant
Adam Gilchrist has been phenomenal for Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Rishabh Pant has got the striking similarities with Adam Gilchrist. The Delhi’s southpaw is aggressive with his gameplay and also the left-handed like Gilchrist as well.

Though his 26-run knock at Trentbridge showcased his brilliance, the only thing Rishabh Pant needs to match Gilchrist is his charm with the gloves. Adam has always been smart with his gloves which is something Rishabh Pant needs to deliver for India.

Rishabh Pant can be a Solution for MS Dhoni’s absence:

As far as the Indian cricket team is concerned, the addition of Rishabh Pant is a welcome sign. India are in need of a finisher like MS Dhoni with a handful of stroke in the bag. Pant has the right shots in his kitty who can fill the shoes of MS Dhoni as a batsman as well.

Rishabh Pant, Adam Gilchrist
Rishabh Pant showed glimpses of serving India for a long time. (Credits – Getty)

Though the reports suggested that Rishabh Pant replaced injured-Dinesh Karthik, the scenarios looked like Rishabh is on the radar with Karthik failing in batting and glovework.

20-year old already showed his calibre to the world and picked 5 catches to his name as well. Primarily, there were no drops registered yet in his count. All in all, one can see him playing for India quite a time without any shufflings.

If Rishabh Pant gets successful in continuing his strokeplay and gets those skills behind the wicket, the Delhi lad can certainly be the successor of Adam Gilchrist in the world cricket.  Meanwhile, he will also serve as the solution for Dhoni’s absence as well.

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