Brian Lara Backs Rishabh Pant, Says MS Dhoni And Pant Are Different

After having a promising debut, Rishabh Pant has failed to keep that intact. However, former West Indies batsman Brian Lara supported Pant. He showed poor performance and has been under the scanner for a quite some time now. His dismal show with the bat and gloves lead to face a lot of criticisms not only from fans but from the head coach Ravi Shastri as well.

However, recently, captain Virat Kohli has backed him and showed anger when people were chanting MS Dhoni’s name when he dropped a catch in the ongoing series against West Indies. He scored 33 runs in the first innings of the game and remained unbeaten.

Brian Lara backs Rishabh Pant

Lara, however, said that he is a totally different player than Dhoni and he should be given some time to mature.

“Rishabh Pant came into the game with a lot of aggression and created a lot of excitement. However, the Indian public expects someone to replace MS Dhoni immediately without realising that he is a totally different player.” He added.

“The World Cup is merely 8-9 months away and the team might decide to select another keeper for the tournament but excessive pressure on him is unnecessary,” Brian Lara also agreed with Captain Virat Kohli.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma too said that everyone should leave the youngster. Recently Pietersen too supported and backed Pant.

“He is young and he has that energy and enthusiasm, he plays in the IPL, and he plays for India and is just living his dream. There will be a lot of critics around him, he’s only 21 (22),” he said.

He added that everyone criticises Rishabh Pant because they want him to learn from his mistakes. He further added that the youngster needs time to understand his full potential.

“I observed him very closely during the IPL and he kept making the same mistake and when you do that continuously then pundits, experts and people who have played the game want to criticize you because you should be learning from your mistakes,” he added.