Rishabh Pant should be himself and not try to be MS Dhoni, advises Adam Gilchrist

Ever since Rishabh Pant replaced MS Dhoni in the limited-overs circuit, he has been criticised by many, be it for his batting, wicket-keeping skills or more recently, be his role when it comes to reviews. The 21-year-old received a lot of flak after India lost their first-ever game to Bangladesh.

However, former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist believes the Indian fans should avoid comparing Pant with Dhoni. "I'm not big on comparisons, like I have said before. I think Indians fans shouldn't be trying to compare him to Dhoni. Dhoni has set such a high benchmark. One day someone might match it but it is probably unlikely," Gilchrist said to TimesOfIndia.com.

"My advice to Rishabh Pant will be: learn everything you can from Dhoni. Don't try to be Dhoni. Just try to be the best Rishabh Pant you can," he added

Speaking about the challenges that Test cricket is facing at the moment, the 47-year-old acknowledged that the longest format has a "strong passive" following.

"Test cricket in this day and age will always have challenges because in a fast-paced world, five days of Test cricket doesn't seem a natural fit. It is surviving on the back of the innovations of T20 and earlier one-day cricket. There's a room for it," he said.

"Hopefully, the players' intent to play Test cricket remains the same for a long time."

Gilchrist further presented his thoughts on the idea of the Day-Night Test and World Test Championship (WTC) and hoped that the efforts made by the ICC in reviving red-ball cricket would bear fruit.

"I am not sure it will get more fans attending Test matches. I think the days of consistent crowds of Test cricket are probably gone. The big marquee series like India-Australia and the Ashes will still garner a decent crowd. There's still a very strong passive following of Test cricket. But efforts should be made to keep Test cricket engaging both for the fans and players. So, we have to wait and see whether the Test Championship and Day-Night Tests are well and truly here to stay," he said.

India and Bangladesh will be playing their first-ever Day-Night Test in Kolkata from November 22-26 at the Eden Gardens and Gilchrist believes that the pink-ball affair will be successful in attracting a great response from the spectators. He also hopes that on India’s next tour to Australia, Cricket Australia and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) agree upon organising a Day-Night Test.

"I expect there will be a Day-Night Test when India visits Australia for the tour next time. I was a bit reluctant with Test cricket initially. But now I can see that the positive outcomes of Day-Night Test will help Test cricket," Gilchrist said.

"There are going to be issues, particularly in India with the dew. It will take a bit of time to work out which venues will host the Day-Night Test," he concluded.