Rishabh Pant equaled MS Dhoni's record for most Test centuries by an Indian keeper-batter.
Pant's sixth Test century came on Day 3 of the first Test against Bangladesh, marking his return to the format after more than 20 months. Pant struck 109 (128) runs with 13 fours and four sixes, helping India set a mammoth mark of 515 for Bangladesh in the fourth innings.
Following his hundred, he leveled with former India captain MS Dhoni in terms of the most hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests.
This gave rise to the debate of whether Rishabh Pant has surpassed MS Dhoni in Test cricket and former India cricketers shared their thoughts about the same.
Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has given his take on who’s better wicketkeeper batter for India in Tests between Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni.
“It’s very unacceptable to say that he’s played 34 Tests and he’s already India’s greatest wicketkeeper batter. Let’s take time, let’s not jump to conclusions but definitely he’s on course for sure and he will finish as India’s greatest ever wicketkeeper,” said Karthik on Cricbuzz.
Karthik provided insight into Dhoni's wicketkeeping career, stating that his successes as a captain give him more weight than Pant currently.
“Don’t discount Dhoni’s credentials as a wicketkeeper as well. He not only kept brilliantly, batted, and scored runs when it mattered very very well for India but also he led India to a World Test Championship mace which is becoming number 1. So you got to give all that weightage as well when you speak about a player all round,” he added.
Coming to the stats, Dhoni played 90 Tests in his career and scored 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 registering six hundreds and 33 fifties. He also has the fifth most dismissals in the longest format to his name (294).
Under his reign, India also became the world’s number-one Test team for the first time in the same year and drew their first-ever series in South Africa by (1-1).
Pant, on the other hand, has scored 2419 runs in 34 matches at an average of 44.79, with six hundreds and 11 fifties. He is also India's third most successful Test wicketkeeper, having recorded 134 dismissals.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra told JioCinema that Pant, with his aggressive style of cricket, reminds him of the famous Virender Sehwag and is already "India's greatest wicketkeeper-batter in Test cricket."
He said: "Comebacks are more difficult than debuts because you have seen it all. Also, people tend you judge you quicker. See, there was never a doubt about Pant, and he headed into Test cricket after winning the T20 World Cup trophy for India. The fact is that, for some strange reason, Test cricket is his strongest suit. He reminds me of Virender Sehwag. You feel that T20 cricket is where he should have dominated more, but his numbers are far better in Test cricket. The jury is out now - he is India's greatest wicketkeeper-batter in Test cricket."
Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar, former India cricketer, said given the contrasting batting positions, he was not shocked that Pant matched Dhoni's century. While the left-hander has been India's official No. 5 batsman in Tests, Dhoni has batted at No. 7 or 8 for India throughout his career.
"Dhoni had more impact in white-ball cricket. In Test cricket, there was more of his need down the order. Pant is more of a batter-keeper in Tests. So I'm not surprised that this happened. It had to happen at some point. Not to forget, he has quite a few knocks of the 90s as well. Had he converted those to centuries, he would have da about 12 of them probably. He is a different class of player and in terms of batting, he is probably the best wicketkeeper in Test history," he said on ESPNCricinfo.
Former India captain Ajay Jadeja believes they should not be compared to one another. He went on to say that Dhoni was never as vital to the Indian squad as Pant, considering that the national side at the time featured the Fab Four/Five.
He said on JioCinema: "There is no replacement for Pant. It is just unfortunate for Dhruv Jurel because he did everything in his potential. But Pant is a special player. See, we are comparing him to Dhoni in terms of numbers, but I will not do that. It's chalk and cheese. Yes, he has matched Dhoni's numbers, but this is different. I'm not saying he is better than him or not, but what he has, Dhoni probably never got that chance. When Dhoni came to Test cricket, the Indian team had four batting greats. So when they were around, they didn't need much of Dhoni. But the ability that Pant has, no one in world cricket has that. It is better you enjoy his knocks than analyze it."