Rishabh Pant delivered an exceptional performance with the bat for India in the first Test against England, held from June 20 to 24 at Headingley in Leeds. The 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batter blazed to scores of 134 runs in the first innings and 118 in the second, making history as the first Indian and only the second wicketkeeper globally to score centuries in both innings of a Test match.
Pant’s masterful batting in the series opener garnered widespread acclaim from cricketing legends and experts, with some even declaring him India’s finest wicketkeeper-batter to date.
Among those offering praise was former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who lauded Pant’s superb batting on his YouTube channel. However, Ashwin also offered a word of caution, urging against comparisons between Pant and former India captain and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni.
For R Ashwin, who holds the distinction of being India’s second-highest wicket-taker in the five-day format, drawing parallels between Pant and Dhoni is inappropriate. He highlighted that Dhoni never batted as high as the reasonable No. 5 position in the batting order.
“… Rishabh Pant should be compared with the likes of Virat Kohli… He is a mainstream batter. Because he has got so much time…” Ashwin articulated, suggesting Pant’s batting prowess aligns more closely with top-order batsmen.
Do you agree with R Ashwin?
