In Test cricket, Ricky Ponting compares Rishabh Pant to MS Dhoni

In terms of red-ball cricket, India’s most prominent player is the explosive batsman Rishabh Pant. In 2021, at the Gabba, the keeper-batter achieved a historic century of runs with an innings of 89* against Australia, which remains one of the greatest Test cricket innings ever. In 33 Test matches thus far in his career, the 26-year-old has played for India and scored five hundreds, which is nearly equal to MS Dhoni’s six in ninety sessions.

Ricky Ponting, a former captain of Australia, praised Pant and drew a parallel between the two cricket players, saying that he is a personable and passionate cricket player. The fact that Pant has already struck five Test hundreds whereas Dhoni took nearly 100 Test matches to reach six was also mentioned. Compared to the renowned cricket player, he has participated in about one-third of the matches.

“He’s a contagious persona to have around the group; we’ve all seen him play and heard him on the stump mic. He is a winner, he is passionate about cricket. He plays more than just to get on the field and score some runs. He has at least four or five Test hundreds under his belt, and he also has roughly nine 90s. (MS) The fact that Dhoni played in 120 Tests (90) and scored three or four hundreds (6) shows how talented Pant is. Ponting stated on Sky Sports, “He’s a serious cricketer.”

It’s an amazing return: Insulting Rishabh Pant

After a potentially fatal accident on December 30, 2022, Pant missed over 16 months of cricket. He took a while to heal from that, and in the IPL 2024, he returned to professional cricket. He went on to win the T20 World Cup for India shortly after, and he has since been selected for India’s next two-match Test series against Bangladesh. It’ll be his first Test match since the mishap as well.

Ponting commented that Pant’s return is an incredible tale in relation to it. The renowned cricketer stated that he didn’t think the Haridwar-born player would participate in the IPL 2024 at all and that, even if he did, Pant might only be an impact substitute. Going forward, he participated in every game and emerged as one of the top scorers for the Delhi Capitals in the competition.

It’s quite the comeback. I didn’t think he would participate in the last IPL (2024) season if you could only see his leg now and hear the stories he tells about the struggles he faced after his automobile accident—not just the psychological damage that results from it, but also the physical side and the rehab he underwent.

However, he had promised that he will be OK for the IPL, so don’t worry about him 12 months beforehand. Although we anticipated that he would be able to bat and that we might need to utilize him as an impact player, he kept every game and was one of our top batsmen in terms of runs scored.