People Want To See Me At His Place’: India Wicketkeeper On Being Compared To MS Dhoni
The void left by MS Dhoni in Indian cricket is yet to be filled. The only captain in history to win all three major ICC titles – Dhoni took Indian cricket to unprecedented heights and more importantly, made an entire country believe that India can win global tournaments.
Post Dhoni’s Champions Trophy win in 2013, India are yet to win an ICC title. It has been 9 years since and although Virat Kohli took India to the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy, the inaugural World Test Championship and the 2019 World Cup semifinal, an ICC trophy has eluded Indian cricket.
Captaincy and batting aside, after Dhoni, no India wicketkeeper has been able to cement his place in the team. Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and even KL Rahul have kept wicket but none you feel is a permanent solution. Among the three, Pant comes to closest but his dodgy form with the bat makes him an unsure pick in the XI. Samson, with his recent string of decent scores is finally beginning to come good, while Ishan is on the high of the recent double-century he scored against Bangladesh.
Ishan has had to wait for his chances in the Indian team, but after his magnificent double ton, it will be impossible to not consider him in the ODI squad. Ishan bats a lot like the Dhoni of fold and incidentally, both hail from Jharkhand as well. And when two people come from the same town into the same profession, comparisons are but obvious. Ishan opened up on being compared to the legendary Dhoni, saying that he takes it in a good stride and reveals that if he can achieve even half of what MSD has, he would be at peace with how his career would have panned out.
“I take it in a very positive way. I feel that when people are considering me with MS bhai, that means I have something in me. That’s why they want to see me at his place. I just feel that if I can achieve even 70 percent of what he has done for the country, I will be happy. He has done so much, won us the World Cup, T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy… so much. But at the same time even I want to be in that situation where I make my team win,” Ishan told OneCricket.
Ishan blasted 210 off 130 balls, and recorded the fastest ever double century in ODIs, surpassing Chris Gayle. But despite sizzling with the bat, Ishan remains grounded. The 23-year-old is currently playing the Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand in order to remain match ready for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka starting January.
“I am still the same player. I have gotten that double hundred but the moment I completed it, the next day my mom called me and said ‘It’s done. Now you should forget about me’. She also said that you are now going for Ranji Trophy so score a hundred there as well. We did not win the ODI series but it was a great learning all over,” added Ishan.