After Shikhar Dhawan’s exit from the World Cup, Team India needed a big hitter at No. 4 who can lead the team to a big finish. BCCI decided to send Rishabh Pant to England to replace injured Dhawan, however, Pant is still waiting for the green signal to step on the field as the team was not able to find a place for him.
After Thursday’s spectacular win against West Indies, it seems the long wait is finally over for Pant as he will get the taste of the mega tournament in place of Vijay Shankar.
Vijay Shankar’s performance has been a cause of worry in the recent games as he scored 58 runs (15 runs against Pakistan, 29 against Afganistan and 14 against West Indies) while batting at No. 4. With the spectacular performance so far, Team India is almost certain to secure a place in the Semi-Finals. In this case captain Virat Kohli can try Pant for the remaining three games against England, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Rishabh Pant has played five ODIs and in four innings he scored 93 with strike rate coming to 130.98.
India is in the second position with 11 points from six matches played, one was cancelled due to rain. The team has to play three more games before the Semi-Finals and in order to have a big finish, they need to win all the remaining games.