There is no denying the fact that Indian cricketer and former skipper MS Dhoni is irreplaceable and there is simply no one else in this world who can even come close to his caliber as far as wicketkeeping is concerned.
Nevertheless, the bitter truth is that one day, he will retire and the Indian team will need a new wicketkeeper. With this thought, BCCI and team management are preparing Rishabh Pant as he is also included in the World Cup squad so that if Dhoni gets injured, they will have a backup option at least.
However, it appears that the youngster will need some time before he is able to handle the responsibility in a good manner. Lately when he was given a chance to prove himself in the fourth ODI against Australia, he committed some really big mistakes which proved very costly to team India.
The Australian team won the match by chasing a huge target of 359 runs with 13 balls still to be bowled. Earlier, India scored 358 runs with the help of Shikhar Dhawan’s 16th century and Rohit Sharma’s innings of 95 runs but Australian batsmen played brilliantly, especially Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb and Ashton Turner, and took the match away from India.
Rishabh Pant not only missed stumpings but in fact he seemed to be totally ineffective behind the stumps. The crowd got extremely upset and started chanting ‘Dhoni, Dhoni’, demanding that MSD should be brought back in the team.
Watch The Video:
Mohali Crowd today #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/MBDWcbr8Ht
— POWERSTAR 🇮🇳 (@Teja_PSPK99) March 10, 2019
Click here to watch this video directly on Twitter
The social media users were also annoyed with the manner in which Rishabh Pant carried out wicketkeeping and they trolled him big time. Here are some of the selected tweets:
#1
Every Time Rishabh Pant fumbles the chant of 'DHONI DHONI' by the crowd proves MSD's worth!
#INDvAUS #MSDhoni @msdhoni— Kshitij Raja (@KshitijRaja7) March 10, 2019
#2
https://twitter.com/Jolly_Jinu/status/1104768526026502147
#3
https://twitter.com/Vaibhav4real/status/1104778168500551681
#4
Dhoni didn't even play and has more mentions than Ashton Turner [who won the game for Aus] and Rishabh Pant put together 🤣 pic.twitter.com/CazkrqyFgZ
— TheOtherGuy (@OtherGuyThere) March 10, 2019
#5
Poor Rishabh Pant … Dhoni's shoes are too big to fill …@msdhoni @RishabPant777
— Bhavesh Verma (@bhavesh_verma22) March 10, 2019
#6
@imVkohli looking at Rishabh Pant's keeping skills one wonders how Indian team will survive after @msdhoni hangs his boots #INDvAUS #INDvsAUS4thODI
— ennkay (@narenpaliwal2) March 10, 2019
#7
And Rishabh Pant has proved beyond doubt he isn’t ready yet. 2 stumping missed and one becoming the diff between victory and defeat. Dhoni would hardly miss any.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) March 10, 2019
#8
https://twitter.com/b4ulove14/status/1104764060602490880
#9
@StarSportsIndia #AskStar why kohli give chance to rishabh pant today? Dhoni is too much better keeper than him. He does not catch the balls 3-4 times @RishabPant777 @msdhoni @imVkohli @yuzi_chahal
— Jatin Bansal (@JatinBa64211400) March 10, 2019
#10
MS Dhoni To Rishabh Pant After His Performance in Yesterday's Match – pic.twitter.com/UUXcy57Xkx
— Sanni Keshri 🇮🇳 (@imSanniKeshri) March 11, 2019
#11
You are not MS Dhoni @ Rishabh Pant 😒#INDvAUS
— ✴️ ᙢคᏁἶֆհค ✴️ ~ 👩⚕️⚕️📻 🤨 🧐 (@manisha__gupta) March 10, 2019
The ODI series is now in a balanced state with both the teams winning 2 matches each and now the final match that will be played on March 13 at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, will decide the winner of the series. We really hope that Dhoni comes back in the final match of the series. What do you say?