People Have To Stop Comparing Rishabh Pant With MS Dhoni: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian opener-turned politician, has called for the media to stop comparing Rishabh Pant with the champion wicketkeeper-batsman and former Indian captain, MS Dhoni.

Ever since Rishabh Pant has come on the scene, the talented southpaw has been hailed as a natural successor to MS Dhoni. While his exploits in the past few editions of the IPL and his Test hundreds in England and Australia have only fueled those comparisons, the pressure of expectations has clearly got to Pant, who has now lost his place as India’s preferred wicketkeeper in white-ball cricket.

Gambhir feels that there is a lot of scope for improvement in Rishabh Pant in both the keeping and batting department but he reckoned that first of all, the media and people close to Pant need to stop comparing him with MS Dhoni.

“You have to stop comparing Rishabh Pant that he is an alternative to MS Dhoni. That is one thing which first media needs to do it. Because the more media talks about it, the more he starts thinking on that front. He can never be MS Dhoni. He has to be Rishabh Pant. And, at the same time, MS Dhoni had so much of range when he came on the scene. And, Rishabh Pant, just because he can hit sixes, people started comparing him with MS Dhoni,” Gautam Gambhir told ESPNCricinfo.

”Rishabh Pant has a lot to improve, especially from the keeping point of view, but from the batting point as well. I hope he scores important runs today. But then if I see, the bowlers have got smarter, they have started bowling wider outside the off-stump and he has struggled. That’s the reason, first and foremost, people around him and in the media need to stop comparing him with MS Dhoni” he added.

The Delhi Capitals will, however, hope that Rishabh Pant regains his form in the ongoing Qualifier against the Mumbai Indians and lift them from a precarious situation that they find themselves in during their run-chase of 201.

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