'His practice and work ethics are a lot similar to Dhoni’: Ravi Shastri lavishes praise on DC skipper Rishabh Pant

Shastri's big claim

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri recently talked about Pant’s leadership qualities. The 59-year-old former India cricketer believes that Pant “is a street-smart cricketer” and “he will learn a lot more.”

“Rishabh is not a sort of player who will be under pressure. He is always going to play his natural game. The way Rishabh plays, being consistent is not easy because he will take chances. He takes care of the strike rate because he comes to bat at no.4, where you have to take the run-scoring up. So, it's a high-risk game there. If he performs, he can cover up his strike rate issue in a single innings,” Shastri said on ESPNCricinfo.

“I liked him tactically as a captain. He used Kuldeep brilliantly and also made good bowling changes. He is a street-smart cricketer and yes, he will learn a lot more,” the former India head coach further added.

A big similarity

Shastri also pointed out similarity between Pant and former India skipper MS Dhoni. Shastri believes that Pant’s “practice and work ethics are a lot similar to Dhoni.”

“The thing I like about him the most is that his batting and his captaincy is not the same. As a captain, he is a lot more composed. His idol is MS Dhoni, so he tries to do a lot of things like him. Even if you watch him before the game, his practice and work ethics are a lot similar to Dhoni. So, he's very composed and very calm.”

Batting first, the Rohit Sharma-led MI registered a total of 177/5, in 20 overs against DC. MI wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan played a brilliant innings of 81 (not out) off 48 balls to help his side in reaching a formidable total.

DC spinner Kuldeep Yadav had picked up three wickets in the game, conceding 18 runs in four overs.

In reply, DC reached the target with 10 balls remaining.