Rishabh Pant has the effect that Virender Sehwag or Adam Gilchrist used to have: Dinesh Karthik

India cricketer Dinesh Karthik recently paid a huge compliment to fellow wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant when he compared his batting with that of legends like Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist.

Pant has been in the form of his life with the bat in all formats of the game in the past few months and will be crucial to Team India’s chances in the upcoming Test assignments in England.

The 23-year-old Delhi cricketer has become India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in limited-overs and Test cricket thanks to the purple patch he has hit in his career after repeated failures in 2019.

Pant’s exploits this year in Australia and against England proved what an invaluable asset he is to the team.

Even Karthik acknowledged the fact that Pant is starting to have the kind of impact on the game that players like Sehwag and Gilchrist had during their heydays in international cricket.

“He lends flexibility to the team and the management has the opportunity to play the extra batsman or the bowler as per requirement. And what is most important is the way he instills fear in the mind of opposition.

“Pant has the effect that Virender Sehwag or Adam Gilchrist used to have on rivals,” Karthik told the Times of India.

Pant is now back in the country where he made his Test debut against the hosts at Nottingham in 2018.

The left-handed batsman had hit a brilliant hundred in just his third Test against England and would be hoping for similar kind of performances in the next 6 games, starting with the inaugural ICC World Test Championship against New Zealand in Southampton from June 18. India will then take on England in a series of 5 Tests from August 4.