IPL 2021: Comparing Rishabh Pant to MS Dhoni is unfair, says Ashish Nehra

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra has backed Rishabh Pant, saying it is unfair to compare the young wicketkeeper-batsman to MS Dhoni.

Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) crashed out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 after losing in Qualifier 2 to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Sharjah on Wednesday. DC missed out on making it to the finals by a whisker as they suffered a three-wicket loss to KKR.

"Everyone cannot be a MS Dhoni, who came in and won the T20 World Cup directly in 2007. Give Pant some time to improve," said Nehra during an interaction on Cricbuzz.

KKR needed six runs off the final two balls of the match and Rahul Tripathi struck a six to take his side to their third final in the IPL. KKR will now take on three-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL 2021 final on Friday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Pant, who was named DC's captain in the first phase of IPL 2021 during Shreyas Iyer's absence, led the side at the top of the IPL 2021 table. But the young 'keeper-batsman could not lead DC, last season's runners up, to the final.

Pant has made a couple of tactical errors in the last two games, but former Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) fast bowler Nehra feels that the former is very young and will improve in the next season.

"Pant should be retained as DC captain for next season. The more he plays, the better he will get. There is no doubt about that. The sooner he learns, the better for him and the franchise. Keeping aside a few tactical mistakes that he made, he was good as captain," explained Nehra.

A disappointed Pant said he did not have words to express after DC's loss to KKR in Qualifier 2 on Wednesday.

"I don't have words to express at the moment, can't tell anything. We just kept believing, tried to stay in the game as long as possible. The bowlers nearly pulled it back, but it's unfortunate that it didn't go our way. They bowled very well in the middle-overs, we got stuck and couldn't rotate strike.

Delhi Capitals are known to be positive and hopefully, we'll come back better next season. We played really good cricket, yes, there will be ups and downs, but we'll stay positive, be there for each other, care for each other and hopefully we'll come back better next season," Pant said after DC's three-wicket loss in Sharjah.