Why Did Rishabh Pant Cry Hearing Dhoni Chants?

(MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant during a practice session for the Indian team)

Indian Cricket has always been blessed with some of the best players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and many more in the history of the team. But during the 1990s when Australia was at the peak of their powers, they had a brilliant captain in the form of Ricky Ponting, a good finisher named Michael Bevan and a determined wicket-keeper called Adam Gilchrist and every team wanted these types of players in their team. This is when God gave the Indian team a player who had all the capabilities and in 2004, the team got MS Dhoni who went on to lead the Indian team to 3 ICC Trophies, finished matches at the end and his wicket-keeping skills have always been on the top. But his legacy has surely created a pressure on the upcoming generation of the wicket-keepers and this is where Rishabh Pant has faced troubles in his career.

When Rishabh Pant missed a stumping at Mohali…

In 2019, Australia toured India for a 5 match ODI series just after India finished an Australia tour and it was a successful one as MS Dhoni was “Player of the Series” in the ODI matches played there. Now, the 5-match ODI series saw the Indian team taking a 2-0 lead against the Australian team in the first two matches and after this, MS Dhoni decided to take a rest from the final 3 ODIs to make sure he is fit and ready for the upcoming 2019 ODI World Cup which is scheduled in England.

To compensate for his place, Rishabh Pant was brought back into the side to handle the wicket-keeping duties and hence make sure that the middle order was glued up around him as he was playing the role of a finisher in the series now. In the 3rd match of the series, Australia managed to make a comeback and now the series was 2-1 while going to the 4th ODI which was scheduled to be played at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh between both the sides.

(Peter Handscomb during the 4th ODI against India in 2019)

During the 4th match between both the teams, India managed to score 358 runs in the first innings with the help of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma and for the Australian team, it was going to be a big task. Coming to chase, the Australian team failed to start well and lost the two early wickets but a partnership between Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb allowed the team to make a comeback in the match and at one stage they were looking all set to take a win in the match.

But a few wickets allowed the Indian team to get the match in their favour and now they only needed the wicket of Ashton Turner to turn the match completely in their favour. However, during a crucial phase Indian wicket-keeper missed an easy stumping chance to get Ashton Turner out and the whole crowd was disappointed to see it. They started chanting “Dhoni Dhoni” and this was the moment when the youngster felt pressure while being on the field for the Indian team.

(Rishabh Pant missed a stumping of Peter Handscomb in the match)

After missing an easy stumping, the pressure was on Rishabh Pant to redeem himself but in the next over again, he fluffed an easy chance of getting the batter out and even took a wrong DRS call where the Indian team felt that the batter had nicked the ball but on replays, it was shown that the spike was due to the ball being going down leg and instead of being a dot ball, it was called wide which agitated the crowd even more and the chants were even bigger now.

Being a 21 year old player, the pressure was mounting on Rishabh Pant and even the captain of the Indian team, Virat Kohli went near the boundary ropes to stop the crowd from chanting “Dhoni Dhoni” to make sure that the youngster wasn’t under pressure and performs well in the rest of the match. Despite defending such a big target, India lost the match by 4 wickets and Australia levelled the series 2-2 with the decider scheduled at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi.

(Ashton Turner won the 4th ODI match for Australia by scoring 84 runs from 43 balls)

After the match, even Virat Kohli came out in support of Rishabh Pant and said that it is important to make Rishabh Pant feel calm because of how he is playing right now. He further added that chanting MS Dhoni’s name after Pant makes a mistake will only affect his confidence in the long run and he might not be able to play like he does in the domestic tournaments.

“We certainly believe in Rishabh's ability. When you say it's the player's responsibility to work hard, perform and do all those things, I agree. But I think it's the collective responsibility of everyone around as well to give that player some space to do so as well. If he misses a chance or something, people can't shout 'MS!' in the stadium. It's not respectful, if I have to put it that way. No player would like that to happen. If you're playing in your own country, you should get support rather than always thinking about what mistake is this guy going to make. No one wants to be in that position.”

(Virat Kohli with Rishabh Pant during India’s match)

With the loss in the 4th ODI, the whole social media was filled with negative news against Rishabh Pant and everyone was looking to get back MS Dhoni for the last and final ODI of the series. It was a depressing state for the youngster and in an interview, he stated that it wasn’t a good sign for him early in his career and with these types of instances, things were going to be tough for him.

“I used to really feel very bad. I used to go back to my room and cry at 20-21 years of age. Under stress, I couldn't breathe. So much pressure and I didn't know what to do. I missed a stumping in Mohali, and the crowd started to chant 'Dhoni Dhoni'.”

(Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni during a match for the Indian team)

In the interview, Rishabh Pant further added that he treats MS Dhoni as a brother and can connect with him anytime to ask for tips and strategies. Furthermore, he appreciated the other senior players who were always available to calm him down during the crunch situations of the match out there. He also questioned the public who made comparisons between him and MS Dhoni.

“First of all, I didn't understand why questions were raised. I had just made it to the team, and people were talking about being a replacement. Why were people raising such questions at a youngster? Why are you comparing? There shouldn't be any comparison at all. Some have played five matches and the others have played 500. It's been such a long journey, so many ups and downs, so the comparison is not fair.”

(MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant batting together for the Indian team)

At the end of his interview, Rishabh Pant told about how much respect he has for MS Dhoni and the other senior players who are in the team. Now after his car accident and with recovery on point, the wicket-keeper will be looking forward to seeing where he sits in the team now and how well he can contribute to the team’s success.

“I always find it difficult to explain my relationship with MS. Dhoni. There are some with whom you can talk freely. I discuss everything with MSD. I have learned so much from him. I discuss things with him that I wouldn't discuss with anybody else. That's the kind of relationship (I have) with him.”

“At the start, I was very young, and there were a lot of senior players, a lot of them actually. Yuvraj Singh, MS were there, all seniors. It does take some time, but I didn't get the feeling of them being super seniors. They were very welcoming and made me very comfortable. They make every new player very comfortable. This is the culture of the Indian team.”