Rishabh Pant Or Mohammad Rizwan? Danish Kaneria Picks Who’s The Bigger Star

by Jatin SharmaSeptember 17, 2024

Rishabh Pant or Mohammad Rizwan, former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria picked who was the bigger star and also gave his reasons why.

Rishabh Pant and Mohammad Rizwan, two talented wicketkeeper batters from India and Pakistan have enthralled cricket fans with their outstanding exploits in all forms. Both Rizwan and Pant are extremely talented with the bat and gloves.

Rizwan has been a key member of Pakistan’s top order due to his dependability and gritty performances. In recent years, he has been Pakistan’s T20I backbone, particularly while partnering with skipper Babar Azam.

Rishabh Pant received a long-awaited Test comeback for India’s forthcoming home series against Bangladesh. The southpaw suffered many injuries as a result of a terrible vehicle accident. His ailments forced him to miss a lot of play, including several crucial international competitions.

However, his comeback strengthens India’s batting, since he has the potential to be a game-changer on home soil.

Danish Kaneria opines on the battle for top wicketkeeper between Mohammad Rizwan and Rishabh Pant

While Pant is recognized for his spectacular stroke play and aggressive approach, Rizwan’s consistency elevates him to one of Pakistan’s important international cricket players.

Rishabh Pant and Mohammad Rizwan have repeatedly been compared in terms of their high-level achievements. However, Kaneria believes Pant outperforms his Pakistani rival because he rises to the occasion when it matters.

During a meeting with a well-known Indian journalist, the ex-Pakistani spinner got into an entertaining ‘this or that’ debate. When the interviewer asked him who was the superior player between Rizwan and Pant, the cunning tweaker chose Pant without hesitation.

He went on to explain why he chose Pant, citing the southpaw’s spectacular performances for India on crucial occasions

Danish Kaneria said on Sports Yaari Network: “If I say Rishabh Pant, you ask me, why not Rizwan? Because when the runs matter the most for the teams, he doesn’t make runs for the team; that’s the only problem I have. Because you know in the 2024 T20 World Cup, when Rizwan was on the crease, Rohit Sharma deliberately brought Jasprit Bumrah on the bowling attack. Since Rizwan was on the strike, Rohit knew that Bumrah should take the wicket of this guy.

He also mentioned Rizwan’s batting failure in the high-stakes T20 World Cup match against India earlier this year.

It was obvious. You hit such a sweet ball. I mean, what is this? I mean, your batsmen, you are not able to get runs against even Axar Patel. You are taking two runs, one run, and you are trapping them on each other. You are facing a fast bowler, whom the captain deliberately brought to take your wicket. And you say, You brought it; take my wicket. Thank you.”