Rishabh Pant Reacts To 'Dhoni, Dhoni' Chants In Stadiums

The 22-year-old impressed everyone in Chennai by playing a heroic 71-run knock and went on to stitch a solid 114-run stand with Shreyas Iyer that helped India put a respectable first innings total of 288-8 in the first ODI against Windies

Rishabh Pant Reacts To 'Dhoni, Dhoni' Chants In Stadiums/ Photo: Getty Images

New Delhi: Ever since Rishabh Pant has replaced former India captain MS Dhoni in team India, the young wicket-keeper batsman has been facing flak, be it for playing careless shots, wicket-keeping skills or his role when it comes to taking reviews. Pant has been mocked by fans with chants of 'Dhoni, Dhoni' at many stadiums whenever he missed a catch or stumping. The 22-year-old impressed everyone in the first ODI against Windies by playing a heroic 71-run knock and went on to stitch a solid 114-run stand with Shreyas Iyer that helped India put a respectable first innings total of 288-8 in Chennai. However, Pant's maiden ODI fifty didn't result in India's favour as brilliant hundreds from Shai Hope (102 off 151 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (139 off 106 balls) powered West Indies to a historic 8-wicket win and take 1-0 lead in three-match series. After the game, Pant thanked fans for their support and revealed how it felt when a section of crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium chanted 'Pant, Pant' in order to encourage him.

Finally Everyone is shouting Rishabh Pant instead of Dhoni. #KnowledgeableChennaiCrowd pic.twitter.com/mCHLrQzotB

— Sundar G (@SunOfGan) December 15, 2019

"Sometimes it is important when crowd support you because as an individual I was thinking of scoring big runs but I was not getting there. I'm not saying I got there but I'm just trying to improve everyday. As a team point of view, whatever I can do to help my team win and to have a good score on the scoreboard that's what I was focusing and in the end I got some runs," said Pant. "Personally, if I play for India every inning is important for me. As a youngster, I just want to learn and improve myself each and every day of cricket I'm playing," he added.