Former New Zealand cricketer Ian Smith applauded Rishabh Pant for his attitude and his never-say-die attitude. While he doesn’t rank Pant that highly for his work behind the wickets and found similarities with the legendary Adam Gilchrist, Smith also said that it would be hard for the youngster to go past former India captain MS Dhoni in terms of the hero factor as well. Pant returned to Test cricket in style for India with a stunning century on the 1st Test between India and Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai as well.

“Rishabh Pantâ€æ I like him because he’s just got that attitude. He’s not going to run away from a fight. If you ask him to open, he’ll open. If you ask him to bat at 5, he’ll do it. He is probably not the best gloveman the world has ever seen but he is working on it, getting better at it,” Ian Smith said on talkSPORT cricket show. “And that’s efficient because you spend so much of your day standing close to the stumps. He is a given, for me. He is Gilchrist-like in that regard. I rate him very highly.”

Rishabh Pant made a stunning comeback almost two years after the car accident in December 2022. He threw away his start in the 1st innings as well. However, he did well in the 2nd innings for India by smashing his sixth Test century for India. He shared a 167-run stand with Shubman Gill, who scored an unbeaten 119 in the second innings as well. With this hundred, Pant equalled MS Dhoni’s record for most hundreds by a wicketkeeper batter for India as well.

Meanwhile, Smith also opened up on the ongoing debate over the comparison between Pant and MS Dhoni.

“I like Pant as a cricketer. It’s an extremely important role and he’s got massive shoes to fill because they’ve had a revolving door since Dhoni to be perfectly honest. You talk about hero factor, it’s pretty hard to go past MS,” said Smith.