Rishabh Pant: India's Future Wicketkeeper In All Formats?

The youngster( Rishabh Pant) from Delhi is widely regarded as the perfect player to be the legacy of MS Dhoni. Rishabh Pant till now has played 39 international matches in his one and half year international carrier. In the longest format( tests) his performance has been beyond expectations till now. He played just 15 innings and has scored 696 runs already. Not to forget he played those innings in England & Australian pitches. He already has 2 test centuries and same no.of half centuries. After the last Australia series in January he broke and made quite a few records. The records are as follows :-

1) He became the only and first Indian wicketkeeper batsman to score century in England and Australia.

2) Best ranking by an Indian wicketkeeper in ICC test rankings surpassing Dhoni.

3) Best test ratings by an wicketkeeper batsman of India.

4) Only Indian to open his test account with a six.

5) 2nd highest score by a visiting wicketkeeper batsman in Australia- 159*.

6) Most dismissals affected by an wicketkeeper batsman in a test series - 20.

So from these stats we get an idea about his potential to be the future of India.

Though he has done a great job in test format, he haven't been upto the mark in the shorter formats. In 12 ODIs he played he has scored only 229 runs with highest score being 48. Team management had indicated that they are thinking him for India's no.4 position. He also got to bat at no.4 quite a few times but failed miserably. He clearly lacks the temperament which a no.4 needs. In T20is also the story is not much different for him. Though he has couple of half centuries in his 17 innings till now but he had been irresponsible. He had managed to score 302 runs in those 17 innings at a sr of 124.8 .

He clearly needs to amend his timing of playing risky shots, shot selection. So in ODIs and T20is his performance has been quite below par.

He has to adapt and learn very quickly from his past mistakes because he is expectef to fill the big boots of the legend MS Dhoni, who certainly has set the bar very high and has been one of the most impactful player of Indian team. So its only better for Rishabh Pant to learn quickly from his past mistakes and amend those mistakes in next matches, because in test format he will get some good comepetition from Wriddhiman Saha, who is technically a great keeper. In shorter formats MS Dhoni is aged but even in 2019 Dhoni has amassed 600 ODI runs at an average of 60 and he is still not officially retired so certainly he can make a coneback. Dinesh Karthik is also there as competitor. Rishabh Pant's companion in U-19 days Ishan Kishan is someone I believe is a worthy competitor of Rishabh Pant as Wicketkeeper batsman, which is certainly a good sign for Indian cricket. But for Rishabh Pant now it's all about learn from mistakes he is doing. If he manages to amend his mistakes and move on quickly then it certainly looks like the Delhi lad will be India's permanent wicketkeeper across all formats in next decade.