With a playful smile, on a chilly December Delhi evening at the start of his career, Rishabh Pant admitted that the MS Dhoni comparisons annoyed him. “When I hear this, I sometimes feel people are making fun of me. He is my idol and I feel happy when people compare me with Mahi bhai. But I am just a kid, and feel uncomfortable,” he would say. Nearly a decade later, the Dhoni shadow not only stalks him, but has assumed an even thicker form. So much so that the world sees Dhoni in Pant. There is the disarming backstory of migration, from a small town in Uttarakhand (both) to Ranchi and Delhi. Their batting is irresistibly unorthodox. For Dhoni’s helicopter whir, Pant has the falling flick. They keep wicket in pragmatic rather than orthodox manners. If Dhoni epitomised the modern batsman and the modern game, Pant symbolises the post-modern batsman and the post-modern game. Both smile winsomely, presenting a cheerful demeanour, endearing them to the masses, oozing boy-next-door charms. Their swashbuckling batting have rung in …