Adelaide, Nov 9: Rishabh Pant finally got a game in the T20 World Cup when he played against Zimbabwe but suspense remains if he will keep the wickets against England in the semifinal or Dinesh Karthik will be back in the side.
During the 2019 ODI World Cup, India didn’t have a settled number four batter and in the ongoing T20 World Cup, the never-ending debate is about whether Pant should come ahead of Karthik in the playing XI.
While Karthik hasn’t fired in the role of a designated finisher, Pant has been underwhelming in whatever T20I chances he has got so far.
Rohit Sharma said playing Pant against Zimbabwe was a tactical move, keeping in mind the semifinal, but the skipper was non-committal when asked who will keep the wickets on Thursday.
“Considering that we were not knowing which team we would be playing in the semis before that Zimbabwe game, we wanted to give a left-hander an opportunity to counter some of the spinners who bowled in the middle for New Zealand and England,” Rohit explained the reason behind Pant’s inclusion.
“And we thought Rishabh was the guy for us to go and give him some time, as well. But again, what is going to happen tomorrow, I won’t be able to tell you right now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rohit defended Axar Patel saying, “To be honest, not really worried, as such, because he (Axar) hardly got to bowl in this tournament. Except for that game against Netherlands, he’s not bowled full overs of his quota, only because of the conditions that has to offer.”
Kohli sustains blow
during training session
Virat Kohli sustained a nasty blow in the groin area during Wednesday’s net session when Harshal Patel bowled but the team heaved a sigh of relief as the master batter was back to the nets within a few minutes. (PTI)
