Being a batting rich country, India have the history of producing prodigious young batting talent. Be it Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli, all of them have gone on to make a mark in the world over at the initial stages of their career. One such name that was expected to join this elite list was the 20-year-old Rishabh Pant.
Having grabbed eyeballs with the fastest fifty in Under-19 cricket during the 2016 ICC U-19 World Cup, Pant became the talk of the town with his spectacular showings in the 2016 IPL and subsequently in the Ranji Trophy. The left-hander had amassed 972 runs at an incredible average of 81 to go with the phenomenal strike-rate of 107.28. Consequently, the teenage wicket-keeper batsman was included in the Indian T20I team to face England earlier this year.
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Considering his big-hitting ability to go with his wicket-keeping skills, fans and cricket pundits have started drawing parallels of him with the legendary Indian wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni. However, Pant seems perplexed as he doesn’t know whether it is a good or a bad thing.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Rishabh spoke his heart out on a lot of aspects of his game. On being asked about his constant comparison with Dhoni, Pant said: “I know that they are praising me, but everything has two different angles. To be honest, I don't see any comparison. I just want to concentrate on my game and look to perform well in every match I play. This is what matters to me. I don't care about people comparing me with someone like Mahi bhai. I am not sure whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. People do whatever they want, I do whatever I want.”
Talking about his form in the ongoing domestic season, Rishabh said: “It has been a fine season for me. But, yes, it is not like last season. Not always will things go your way in sports. Sometimes it will, sometimes it won't and I should be ready to accept whatever comes my way.”
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Pant is currently leading the Delhi Ranji Trophy team which had the likes of experienced campaigners Gautam Gambhir in it. The glovesman though hasn’t bogged down by the additional responsibility as he believes that responsibility of captaining the side has been helping him grow as a player.
“Right now, it is a very good thing for me. The management has given me the responsibility of captaining the side and it has been helping me as a player. We are in a good frame of mind now as we qualified for the quarter-final. We will try and win the trophy this time,” Pant said.
The Delhi skipper concluded by saying that he would like better his 2016-17 season of heroics in the forthcoming domestic season.
“I just want to perform better than I did in the 2016-17 season. I will be more than happy if I manage to do that,” Pant signed-off.
