Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant is currently in England busy preparing for World Cup. He was flown in as a replacement for injured Shikhar Dhawan. Although many considered Rishabh Pant to be an obvious choice for this world cup, the selection committee gave a cold shoulder to the youngster.
However, he continued playing his best cricket in Indian Premier League. Eventually he was the first backup player named by the selection committee. With the addition of Rishabh Pant, India will have an X factor in the middle order.
On the other hand, loss of Shikhar Dhawan is a massive blow to India in their title hopes. The southpaw was the best batsman for India in ICC events over the past six years. But after failing to recover from thumb injury as expected, he was ruled out of world cup.
In his absence, KL Rahul will open the innings for India for the reminder of the tournament.
The competition will be between Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik to fill the vacant middle order. Rishabh Pant has revealed he always thought about improving himself after not getting selected for World Cup.
“When I didn’t get selected, I thought may be I didn’t do something right, so I became more positive and focused on how to improve myself. Then I did well in IPL. Then I kept practising,” Pant told India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in a video posted by BCCI.
“It is one dream for all to make India win. When I came to know that I have been called to England as a back-up, my mother was with me. So I told her, she went to temple and paid her offerings.
“As a cricketer, I always wanted to play a World Cup and perform there and now that I have got this opportunity, I am feeling very happy.”
Vijay Shankar remains a major doubt for India ahead of Afghanistan clash. The talented all rounder suffered a toe injury while facing Jasprit Bumrah in the training session.
In case if he is unfit, there is a very good chance that Rishabh Pant could make his world cup debut on Saturday against Afghanistan. The southpaw will be important for India as an in-form Rishabh Pant would be a huge bonus for India.
He is a match winner on his day and could be the X-factor in the middle order that India lacked so far. However, it remains to be seen if the team management are ready to play Rishabh Pant so early in the tournament.