Rishabh Pant Should Create His Own Identity, Says Brad Haddin

As Rishabh Pant struggles to prove himself in international cricket, former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin has advised him to create his own identity and not try to copy anyone else. The highly-rated wicketkeeper batsman has struggled to do justify the hype surrounding him.

Towards the start of 2020, Rishabh Pant lost his place in the playing eleven across formats. At the start of the home season last year, India recalled veteran Wriddhiman Saha in the playing eleven to keep the wickets on the turning pitches. The decision turned out to be a masterstroke as Saha did a splendid job behind the stumps.

India persisted with him in the ODI and T20I teams as MS Dhoni was not available. However, the left-handed batsman failed to grab the chance. He suffered concussion during the first ODI against Australia and KL Rahul kept wicket when India took the field. Since then, Rishabh Pant has been on the bench in the limited-overs format.

He earned a recall in the playing eleven during the two-match Test series in New Zealand but failed to deliver. And as his struggles keep extending, Brad Haddin has come up with some words of wisdom for the India youngster.

“Rishabh Pant should be him. That’s how he’s going to create his identity. He’s got to be himself,” Haddin was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

“You bring your own style to the team. When I first got my opportunity to play Test cricket, I couldn’t try to be an Adam Gilchrist or Ian Healy. I had to bring my own unique style to the game. One of the challenges here is not trying to be someone you’re not and just be true to yourself,” he added.

Haddin also talked about Dhoni, saying that India has been blessed to have enjoyed the services of a player like him for a long time. At the same time, he also said that the players who are trying to replace Dhoni should not copy their illustrious predecessor but create their own identity.

“India have been blessed for the last 10 years to have a superstar of the game in MS Dhoni. So, it’s important whoever takes over from that role creates their own identity. Dhoni has left a great legacy to the game. He’s left a great legacy for Indian cricket, but the next one involved, it’s up to them to put their own style to the game and their identity what they want to create as an Indian keeper,” said Haddin.

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