Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was one of the bests to ever play the game. Not just with the bat, but his work behind the stumps with gloves was also a sight to behold. Dhoni retired from Test cricket in 2014, whereas his retirement from white-ball formats of international cricket came in 2020. He last played for India during ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 semi-final against New Zealand.
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After Dhoni’s retirement, the question of who will replace him was at an all-time high. Replacing Dhoni is tough, as apart from his batting and keeping, his presence of mind and cricketing brain made him a player like no other. In Tests, India tried Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, and Partihiv Patel as keeper-batters, but it was Rishabh Pant who made the spot his own.
Pant was handed a Test debut against England in Nottingham in 2018. He failed in his first two Tests but scored a brilliant century in the fourth innings at The Oval in his third match. With Dhoni never scoring a Test hundred in SENA countries and Pant’s knock earned him praise from around the globe.
Virender Sehwag picked Rishabh Pant to be the ideal replacement for MS Dhoni
Despite impressing in the Test format, Pant was struggling to find his groove in the white-ball formats. In 2019, former Indian batter Virender Sehwag had backed the left-handed wicket-keeper batter to be the ideal replacement for Dhoni in all three formats of the game.
Sehwag had said that Pant will take some time to improve his shot selection, but once he does that, he will be an difficult to drop from the national squads across formats. However, former Indian batter and Sehwag’s long-time opening partner Gautam Gambhir had once said that Pant can never be like Dhoni.
“I think Rishabh Pant is the best one [option]. He proved himself in Test cricket and now he may prove himself in ODIs and T20Is again. He is the best guy to replace MS Dhoni,” Sehwag had told The Times of India in an interview.
“He [Pant] will take some time. If he corrects his shot selection, he will serve Team India for a long time.”
Virender Sehwag predicted Rishabh Pant to be India’s opener
Sehwag also had predicted Pant to open for India in the limited-overs formats. He said that Pant has the capability to do the same. It is certain that Sehwag’s prediction went right as well. After ICC T20 World Cup 2022, the Indian team promoted Pant as an opener in the shortest format.
“I am sure in the coming three or four years, you will see Pant opening for the team. He has the capability to open the innings in the limited-overs format,” Sehwag had said on the sidelines of the launch of The Selector app.
