Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant has been a phenomenon in Test cricket. The 25-year-old has already scored centuries in England, Australia and South Africa. When he smashed his first Test ton in Australia, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting was so impressed with Pant that he compared him with former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.
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During the fourth Test of the Border Gavaskar series 2018-19 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Pant played a brilliant knock of 159* (189) with the help of 15 boundaries and one six. The way he dominated the Aussie spinners impressed everyone. He played with positive intent, and it had glimpses of how Gilchrist used to bat.
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This was the first time that an Indian wicket-keeper scored a Test century in Australia. It was also the highest score by any Indian wicket-keeper overseas in a Test match. This was Pant’s debut Australian tour, and after scoring a century in England, he proved his class down under as well.
Ricky Ponting once compared Rishabh Pant to Adam Gilchrist
After his century in Sydney, Ponting compared Pant with Gilchrist. Gilchrist and Ponting played a lot of cricket together, and Gilchrist used to be Ponting’s deputy. The former captain was so impressed with Pant’s ability that he backed Pant to be an integral part of the Indian team in all three formats of the game. Ponting was Pant’s coach in the IPL for Delhi Capitals.
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Ponting had agreed that Pant needs to work on his keeping as he was being compared to former Indian captain MS Dhoni. Although, Ponting highlighted that Dhoni could just score six Test hundred despite playing so many overseas Tests, and he predicted Pant to score a lot more centuries than him.
“He has got to do a bit of work on his keeping, and [with time] he’ll become a better cricketer but he’ll also become a better batsman. We talk about MS Dhoni all the time and his impact on Indian cricket. [Dhoni] played a lot of Tests for India but made only six Test hundreds. This kid will make a lot more Test hundreds than that,” Ricky Ponting had said to cricket.com.au.
“We talk about him in the commentary box and the way that he bats, he is sort of like another Adam Gilchrist.”
Adam Gilchrist is reportedly the richest cricketer in the world
According to CEO World Magazine, Gilchrist is named the richest cricketer in the world. The net worth of Gilchrist is said to be around $380 million. Gilchrist is a retired cricketer, and it is a tough pill to digest that his net worth is greater than Indian players like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, etc.
