Rishabh Pant compared to Rohan Gavaskar by childhood coach for THIS interesting reason

India's young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has had an explosive start to his international career. At the age of 23, the southpaw has made waves in the cricketing fraternity by playing sensational match-winning knocks in Tests against Australia and England. However, the journey hasn't been a bed of roses for the Delhi-based cricketer due to constant comparisons with the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman and former India captain MS Dhoni.

Rishabh Pant's childhood coach compares the southpaw to Rohan Gavaskar

Pant's explosive batting skills made the cricketing community look at him as Dhoni's successor. However, his below-par glovework during the initial phase of his career garnered a lot of criticism which affected his form severely in 2019 and a major part of 2020. However, the cricketer has seen a major turnaround since the Australia tour.

Recently, while speaking to News 18, Pant's childhood coach Tarak Sinha opened up on the young batsman's comparisons to MS Dhoni and how it could have affected his confidence. Citing the example of Rohan Gavaskar, Sinha said that junior Gavaskar was not a bad player but he was always reminded that he is nowhere near his iconic father, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.

He pointed out that the same thing happened with Pant. Sinha reckoned that a lesser player would have faded under pressure with such comparison to the great MS Dhoni. However, the coach stated that Pant’s willpower is his extraordinary asset and he kept the focus on improving his game rather than the outside noise. Sinha opined that Pant was told that he is a one dimensional stroke player and the batsman soon added more strokes in his armory.

Lauding Pant by calling him a game-changer and a great learner, Sinha expressed his perplexion over such obsession of comparing the DC skipper with Dhoni all the time. According to him, one must acknowledge the fact that it also took a while for Dhoni to show the world what he was capable of. SInha reiterated that Indian cricket supporters need to be patient with Pant because his time will also come.

Meanwhile, Pant has been named in the Indian squad that will play the WTC Final 2021 against New Zealand and his performances will be crucial in determing India's chances of winning the game. The India vs New Zealand WTC Final 2021 wil be played at The Ageas Bowl in Southampton from June 18-22. The winner of the high-voltage India vs New Zealand contest will be crowned maiden World Test Champonship winners. 

SOURCE: PTI/ ROHAN GAVASKAR TWITTER