XtraTime Web Desk: India’s young wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant is one of the frontrunner to be the replacement of MS Dhoni. Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag also thinks Pant is the best man to replace MS 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 told in an interview.
Dhoni hanged his gloves from the tests during the Australia tour in 2014 and since then Team management are looking for a long term replacement in the longest format.
Wriddhiman Saha got a very good chance but his injury forced him to go out of the team. Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel were given opportunities but these two failed to impress.
Pant, who was handed a Test debut in the third Test against England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham in 2018, has played 9 Tests (15 completed innings) so far and scored 696 runs at an average of 49.71, including two centuries and two fifties.
“He
(Pant) will take some time. If he corrects his shot selection, he will serve
Team India for a long time,” Sehwag told.
“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,” the former India opener said on the
sidelines of the launch of ‘The Selector’ app.
Sehwag also spoke about the ICC ODI World Cup
semi-final which India lost recently in heartbreaking fashion against New
Zealand.
“I was doing commentary at that time. I was the
one who was saying that MS Dhoni should come at number four or five because he
was the experienced and better player in that team who can handle pressure
better than anybody else. So, I think MS Dhoni was the right choice,” Sehwag
said.
“He is a very good prospect. I have seen him playing for Delhi. He used to come for the Delhi Ranji team as a net bowler and then DDCA picked him for Ranji Trophy games. After that he played IPL and he performed well. He performed for India A and now he is playing for India,” he added.
“I am very happy for him. He is a good lad who
comes from a very humble background. Hopefully, he does well for Team India as
well. His T20I debut was fantastic and hopefully he plays all formats very
soon,” Sehwag signed off.