Rishabh Pant finally got a game in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Against Zimbabwe, Rohit Sharma dropped out-of-form Dinesh Karthik to include Pant in the playing XI on November 6. Pant failed to make the most of the opportunity and got out for a single-digit score. After a thumping win over Zimbabwe, head coach Rahul Dravid explained why Pant was picked over India’s designated finisher.
“Also, we felt that if we batted first, it would give us an opportunity to play 20 overs and just get into that ability of still trying to get a par, par-plus score batting first. Then, sometimes it gives us the opportunity, as well, to play Rishabh, keeping obviously this game in mind as well but just keeping the future in mind, as well, just opening up our options."
“Everyone is available for selections; just because somebody missed out on this game doesn’t mean that we can’t go back to him and we can’t decide on. We might go the same way. We might go a different way, as well. We just wanted to ensure that we have our options open, giving Rishabh an opportunity to have game time, which was really important," Dravid said in the press conference.
Pant had featured in practice games against Western Australia but failed to score in double digits. He did not get a chance in the warm-up game against Australia.
“He was probably the only player in our team who hadn’t played a game after Western Australia. We played a couple of games in western Australia where he played, and then he didn’t play the practice game. He was supposed to play the second one and that got washed out in Brisbane (against New Zealand), and then he’s not played."
“So we just wanted to ensure that he also gets some game time so that at least all of our 15 have got some amount of game time in both the practice games and this tournament. If we have a whole set of 15 to choose from, we’ll pick what we think is the best XI for the day against the opposition looking at the pitch," added Dravid.
After topping the Group 2, India will now take on England in the second semi-final at Adelaide Oval on November 10.
