The major surprise from the Indian camp on the other day was the inclusion of Rishabh Pant in the playing XI ahead of Vijay Shankar. The youngster finally made his debut in the World Cup, which came against a top-class team of the tournament. Meanwhile, the vice-captain Rohit Sharma sheds light on the batting position of Rishabh Pant.
India failed to chase 337 against England and suffered their first loss of the tournament in 7 matches but it was Pant’s knock which caught everybody’s attention as he played some of his trademark shots to show the world what he is really capable of doing.
Rishabh Pant played ahead of Hardik Pandya:
While Shankar failed to make use of his number 4 position, Pant, on the other hand, immediately made an impact with his bat. He came out after Virat Kohli’s dismissal when India was struggling to keep up with the asking rate and along with Rohit Sharma, added 52 runs for the third wicket to bring the team back in the run chase.
But Pant departed trying to hit a big shot off Liam Plunkett’s bowling in the 40th over, only managing to find Chris Woakes on the leg-side boundary line who took a superb catch to send back the 21-year-old. Meanwhile, the reporter has got a query regarding the same.
He asked the Indian vice-captain for the thought process behind Rishabh Pant walking at number 4 ahead of Hardik Pandya, who has been hitting the ball really well in the recent past. Meanwhile, the opener Rohit Sharma has got a brilliant reply, which left the people out there in splits.
Journalist – “With 146 for two, where you surprised to see Rishabh Pant emerging out of the pavilion because that poor fellow had not even played one match and Hardik (Pandya) was obviously the man in form?”
Rohit Sharma’s reply – “Not really because you all guys wanted Rishabh Pant to play right? You all guys right from India, you all questioned asking ‘Where is Rishabh Pant?’ There he is at No. 4”
Here is Rohit Sharma’s reply:
Vice-captain @ImRo45 lightened up the post-match press conference when asked about Rishabh Pant ?? #TeamIndia #ENGvIND #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/NSv3zVqFT3
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 30, 2019