• Home
  • Match Hub
  • Rishabh Pant Channels Inner Ms Dhoni Exposes South Africas Weakness With Witty Remark

Rishabh Pant channels inner MS Dhoni; exposes South Africa's weakness with witty remark

Anurag Dasgupta

Pant gives advice to bowlers [Source: @mufaddal_vohra/x.com] Pant gives advice to bowlers [Source: @mufaddal_vohra/x.com]

Rishabh Pant is a lively character and whenever he is on the field, expect some ‘Rishabh-Panti’ from the Indian keeper. He loves to chatter from behind the stumps, and these chatters are not only funny, but at the same time, the Indian vice-captain shows his tactical understanding of the game.

Pant replicates MS Dhoni's behaviour from behind the stumps

On Day 1 of the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata, Pant showed his funny side, and at the same time, he also displayed his brilliance as the keeper-batter instructed the Indian bowlers to target the stumps, and exposed South Africa’s weakness while batting.

"Ye sab yahi karne vale hai, ye saare aage ki ball peeche se khelte hai. Andar rakh sakte hai ball ko, poori team aise hi khelti hai."

What Pant meant was that South African batters generally play on the back foot, which is their natural instinct. However, the Indian conditions demand something different, as, unlike South Africa, the ball doesn’t bounce much in subcontinent conditions. If the batter is already committed to the back foot, he is more prone to get lbw.

However, if a batter can use the crease to come forward, then there is a greater chance that he can easily negate the ball. Hence, Rishabh Pant urged the Indian bowlers to bowl stump-to-stump to bring LBW into the equation. This is a trait that he has learned from his idol, MS Dhoni, who used to change the game from behind the stumps and had an astonishing tactical understanding of the game.

How MS Dhoni used to guide bowlers from behind the stumps

  • There have been several instances where MSD, the former India captain, gave instructions to his bowlers on how to take wickets against the opponent batters. He once famously advised Suresh Raina to watch the batter’s feet before delivering the ball, and the trick worked as Raina took the wicket of the batter in the same over.
  • Also, in a Test against New Zealand, MS Dhoni placed Pujara at slips, and told Ravindra Jadeja, the bowler why he placed a fielder at slips - "Yeh ghoomegatoh Pujara ko isliye Pujara ko idhar rakha hai, vo yahan taali bajaane ke liye nahi hai."
  • In another instance, during a 2013 Test vs Australia, Michael Clarke came to the crease and he used to love stepping down the crease against spinners. MSD advised Jadeja to bowl it quicker to deceive Clarke, and the plan worked as the Aussie batter was stumped by him.