Rishabh Pant’s incredible job behind the stumps reminded many of MS Dhoni, including Dinesh Karthik.
Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant might have failed to get a big score with the bat in the ongoing first Test against Bangladesh, but his wicketkeeping was top-notch on day four at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Saturday (December 17).
While Bangladesh openers got the hosts off to a good start chasing a massive target of 513 runs for victory, India made a strong comeback in the final two sessions. Pant stole the limelight with his lightning-quick stumping to remove wicketkeeper-batter Narul Hasan for 3. Pant’s incredible job behind the stumps reminded many of the legendary MS Dhoni, including Dinesh Karthik.
It all happened in the final ball of the 88th over when Nurul tried to drive Akshar Patel's flighted delivery outside off-stump, but he was beaten on the outside edge and lost his balance, as the ball went away from him and Pant showed great reflexes to dislodge the bails in a jiffy.
When the stumps lighted up, Nurul's right leg was dangling in the air, and he had to return to the dugout after scoring only 3 runs. It was the last wicket of the day for India, as Bangladesh still needs 241 more runs to win, while Team India will try their best to get the remaining four wickets to ensure victory on Sunday (December 18).
The video of Pant’s lightning-quick stumping went viral on social media with several cricket fans labeling it as a 'Dhoni-esque' stumping, as the former captain was renowned for his quick stumpings.
Watch Rishabh Pant’s incredible stumping here –
Meanwhile, veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik stated that Dhoni himself would be “proud” of the stumping by Pant.
“He idolizes MS Dhoni and Dhoni would be really proud of the way he did that stumping. The beauty about it is, when the ball is pitched closer, it can be hard to react faster. You get the feeling that the batsman is going to play the shot. But Pant was ready for the ball to miss the bat, and he was already bringing his hand towards the stump. That's why it was done at such a quick speed,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
“As a wicketkeeper, your action is to receive the ball whereas in this case, and why Dhoni was also special, he started predicting when he saw the ball. There was a chance that the ball was getting beaten, and they started bringing their hand the other way. That's whre you get the split second difference when it goes to the third umpire. It was a stumping where the batsman was on his way back. What made it special was Pant's awareness about the chance of the batsman being beaten, and bringing the gloves towards the stumps as the ball came through.
“That's why Rishabh Pant idolized MS Dhoni… because he enjoys him as a personality, and these are things he has learnt spending time with MS. This is one such skill keepers need to keep developing,” Karthik added.