Who Is Better Between MS Dhoni And Rishabh Pant In Tests? Former India Star Gives Verdict

Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik finally broke his silence on who is the better wicketkeeper batter for India in red ball format between Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni. Pant smashed his sixth Test century in the first Test between India and Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. 

The Delhi-based batter ended up hitting 109 (128) with the help of 13 fours and four sixes, helping India set a huge target of 515 for Bangladesh in the fourth innings. After getting his century, Pant equalled MS Dhoni’s feat of scoring the most centuries by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests.

“It’s very unacceptable to say that he’s played 34 Tests and he’s already India’s greatest wicketkeeper batter. Let’s take time, let’s not jump to conclusions but definitely he’s on course for sure and he will finish as India’s greatest ever wicketkeeper,” said Karthik on Cricbuzz chatter.

“Don’t discount Dhoni’s credentials as a wicketkeeper as well. He not only kept brilliantly, batted and scored runs when it mattered very very well for India but also he led India to a World Test Championship mace which is becoming number 1. So you got to give all that weightage as well when you speak about a player all round,” he added.

During his illustrious career, MS Dhoni took part in 90 Test matches, scoring 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 registering six hundreds and 33 fifties. Dhoni also has the fifth most dismissals in the red ball format to his name (294).

Rishabh Pant, on the other hand, has collected 2419 runs in 34 Test matches he played so far. He has been batting at an average of 44.79 with the help of six hundreds and 11 half-centuries. The left-hand batter is also the third successful wicketkeeper in Tests with 134 dismissals from India.