Former India player Mohammad Kaif has applauded wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant ahead of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy India squad announcement, slated for Saturday, January 18. He also added that Pant has almost reached the same level as legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni as well.

Kaif said on his YouTube channel ‘Mohammad Kaif’ (via India Today): “He [Rishabh Pant] is a big match-winner in Tests. Who can forget his knock at the Gabba and the hundred in South Africa? He performs well in overseas conditions. He is a good wicketkeeper. Rishabh Pant is a better wicketkeeper than Sanju Samson; he has almost reached the same level as MS Dhoni. Sanju Samson has gone ahead. You have to understand this. With Rishabh Pant, people have their emotions attached.”

He also stated that Rishabh Pant needs to work hard in white-ball formats and he also picked Sanju Samson in his India squad for the 2025
ICC Champions Trophy as well.

“Rishabh Pant needs to recognize the reality. If someone tells him ‘wrong things are being done with you’, they are not telling the right things. Rishabh Pant should stay away from such friends. Someone needs to tell him that his white-ball stats are not that great. Sanju Samson has genuinely earned that chance to go to the Champions Trophy. Rishabh Pant needs to work hard,” Mohammad Kaif concluded.