The rising star of the Indian cricket team and Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been improving his abilities and has earned a slot in all 3 formats of the game. He is often compared with the legendary Wicket-keeper batsmen Adam Gilchrist and MS Dhoni.
Pant, Dhoni & Gilchrist are known for their ultra-aggressive approach towards the game and they have remarkable ability to finish the games for the team. However, Sachin Tendulkar has said there is no need to compare Rishabh Pant with the other players and every player should be allowed to create their unique individual identity.
“I don’t like comparing players,” Tendulkar told CNN News18 in an exclusive interview. “Each player has his own identity. Rishabh Pant would want to be known as Rishabh Pant and not no 2 Adam Gilchrist. Every individual likes his own identity, that is what Rishabh would like too.”
“I would judge him for what he’s able to do as an individual, not in comparison of someone (else). The impact tha t he had last time was tremendous. He will get better and better with time,” Tendulkar added.
Rishabh Pant needs to be a little more patient: Sachin Tendulkar
Rishabh Pant in his early days was criticized a lot for his power-hitting abilities, he was very inconsistent with bat and his wicket-keeping abilities were also being questioned by netizens. In recent times, the 23 -year-old has improved in all aspects and has given phenomenal performances for the team in Australia against Australia and at home against England.
Sachin Tendulkar believes with a little more patience in his playing style he is bound to improve with time.
“With experience, he will understand he needs to be a little more patient and see off those couple of overs and then can get back to his normal style which has been extremely aggressive and I enjoy what I see,” Tendulkar said.
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The master blaster also highlighted the batting styles of Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara adding both the playing styles are important in the team; Pant’s explosive batting and Pujara’s calmness and both the batsmen hold individual importance in the perfect team’s setup.
“He (Pant) is fearless and confident,”. “With time he is going to get only better. He is not going to be what he used to be. He likes to play big shots. He can’t be compared to someone like Pujara because Pujara’s dismissal shots are different. His way of scoring is different. Both are equally important.” Tendulkar said.
“Pujara is also important to our team. I am giving you two extremes: someone who is cautious and tires out the opposition and the other guy, lower down the order, he has to attack. He has been able to do that successfully… Let’s (try to) understand rather than judging him every time,” Sachin Tendulkar added.
Maverick batsman Rishabh Pant will be in action on June 18 against New Zealand at Southampton for the WTC final.