Where does India stand with respect to wicketkeeper-batsmen after MS Dhoni?

MS Dhoni, the name that has defined Indian cricket for many many years, will most likely be hanging up his boots after the 2019 Cricket World Cup (he can surprise us any day, but that's a general feeling).

Finding his successor in Test cricket was a headache, in ODIs it will be even more so. But, with the selectors giving a long rope to Rishabh Pant over Dinesh Karthik, it can be an indication of how they are approaching the post-Dhoni era.

We look at the two contenders who can replace Dhoni:

#1 Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant has made a quite a name for himself through the IPL and the centuries in testing conditions in England and Australia. But what remains to be seen, is whether he can be as dependable as Dhoni was in his prime. Certainly, his keeping needs to improve.

As a player who looks to attack straight away, Pant needs to learn to control his instincts and play as the situation may need him to and that temperament would come only with experience. Although he is one of the better hitters of the ball, he needs to work on how to build the innings if the team is at 15/4 or 20/3.

#2 Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik has been around the Indian team set-up for a long time, and some consider him to be a very unlucky person. He is someone who was supposed to be the outright successor to Dhoni, but he failed to grab his opportunities in Test cricket, especially when Wriddhiman Saha was injured.

Given how he has played over the years in the IPL as well as his blistering knock in the Nidahas Trophy final, he is one on whom the team can depend on to chase any total. So he checks the box of a finisher, but does he check the box of someone who knows how to build an innings?

History has proven otherwise and that's why he couldn't cement the number 4 spot and lost it to Rayudu. Karthik's wicket-keeping skills are pretty good, but with him too being on the wrong side of the 30s, his days are numbered.