Ricky Ponting Heaps Praise On Rishabh Pant, Compares Him To Adam Gilchrist

After some stellar performances during the recently concluded Test series against Australia, it will be safe to say that that wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant has grown in stature as a cricketer. And after winning the ICC's Emerging Player of the Year award, the 21-year-old has now amassed praise from former Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Ponting compared him to former Australian stumper Adam Gilchrist. Ponting also said the left-hander will get past MS Dhoni's record of six Test tons. The attacking left-hander already has two overseas Test tons in England and Australia.

"He is a real talent and an incredibly good ball striker. He has got a really good game sense as well. He is someone who could play a lot of Test cricket for India across formats. He has got to do a bit of work on his keeping and he will also become a better batsman," Ponting was quoted as saying by the ICC website.

"We talk about MS Dhoni all the time and his impact on Indian cricket. He played a lot of Tests for India but made only six Test hundreds. 

"This kid will make a lot more Test hundreds than that. We talk about him in the commentary box and he is sort of like another Adam Gilchrist," he added.

Former India captain and present India A coach Rahul Dravid also heaped praise on Rishabh Pant. "He is obviously a very talented player. He showed in three or four innings that he was willing to bat differently. We all know the way he bats. Even in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season when he got over 900 runs his strike rate was 100 plus and we have seen him bat similarly in the IPL as well," Dravid said.

Dravid appreciated the temperament and skills of Pant. "He is always going to be an attacking player but reading of the situation when you are playing red-ball cricket is required," he added.

(With IANS inputs)