BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly seems to be contradicting to the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli in supporting the young wicket-keeper batsman, Rishabh Pant against chants of MS Dhoni during a match. In the recent T20I series against Bangladesh Pant was mocked by the spectators with chants of “Dhoni, Dhoni”. 

Kohli came out in support of Pant, saying such an act is “not respectful” and it’s a “collective responsibility for everyone around” to help the wicketkeeper-batsman improve. However, Ganguly isn’t on the same page with Virat’s take on the treatment of Pant by the audience after a batting failure. Dada recons that Pant should “go through it”, hear those chants and find ways to succeed.

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During the India Today Conclave East 2019, Ganguly said, “If I were Virat Kohli, I would just let him go through it, let him hear it and find ways to succeed. Everybody must remember that you don’t get MS Dhoni’s every day. He is a once-in-a-generation cricketer. MS Dhoni also, when he started, was not MS Dhoni. It took him 15 years to be MS Dhoni. It will take Rishabh Pant also close to 15 years to be even close to what MS Dhoni is today.”

Pant scored mere 36 runs in three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, following 23 runs in two-match T20I series against South Africa. He will now be playing in a three-match T20I series, starting on Friday in Hyderabad.

At the pre-match press conference on Thursday, Kohli defended Pant saying: “I think it’s a collective responsibility for everyone around us as well to give that player (Rishabh Pant) some space.”

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He further added, “If he misses a chance or something, you know, people can’t shout MS’ (MS Dhoni) name in the stadium, it’s not respectful if I have to put it that way, because no player would like that to happen. You’re playing in your own country and you should get support, rather than thinking what mistake is he going to make, no one wants to be in that position.”