Rishabh Rajendra Pant is an Indian cricketer who plays as a middle order wicket-keeper batsman for India, Delhi, and captains the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. He was the vice-captain of the India U-19 team for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
The Indian team management made one change to their playing XI, which saw Rishabh Pant opening the innings, for the second one-day international against the West Indies on February 9, 2022, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Opener Ishan Kishan was left out of the XI to make way for KL Rahul, who came back after missing the first match.
India had won the first ODI at the same venue in Ahmedabad by 6 wickets, in what was the Men in Blue’s 1000th ODI match as well. It was also the first match for Rohit Sharma as India’s full-time white-ball captain since taking over from Virat Kohli.
In that match, Ishan Kishan made 28 runs and added 84 runs for the first wicket alongside Rohit Sharma, who made 60 and gave India a good start. With KL Rahul set to come into the team from the second ODI onwards, after watching the performances, many estimated that Deepak Hooda, who made his debut in the first game, will make way for Rahul, who might either open or bat in the middle order.
Twitterverse Surprised At Rishabh Pant Coming Into Open The Innings With Rohit Sharma
Stand-in West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran, leading the side as Kieron Pollard missed the match due to a niggle, won the toss and chose to bat first. Odean Smith came in for Pollard. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma revealed that India brought in KL Rahul, but in place of opener Ishan Kishan.
This led to many expecting KL Rahul to open the innings especially after Indian team management decided to make way for him by sacking Ishan Kishan despite a decent performance in the first ODI. However, every Indian team fan and cricket fan, in general, was left surprised as Rohit Sharma walked in with a new opening partner and it was not KL Rahul.
Keeper-batter Rishabh Pant came out as his opening partner with the social media already raging with reactions to this unusual promotion in the batting order for the left-hander. This was the first tie Pant was opening in ODIs, despite doing the job in T20 matches over the years.
The Twitterverse reacted sharply and hilariously to Rishabh Pant opening the innings and here are some of the best tweets.
@wasim jaffer
Good to see KL continuing to bat in the middle order. He has been really successful there in recent times. With Dhawan most likely to come back next game it makes sense to take a punt on Pant for this one off game. Cos we all know when Pant comes off its a sight to behold #INDvWI
If you are surprised then don't be! Rishabh Pant opened the innings 11 times for India in U19 ODIs between 2015 and 2016, scoring 454 runs at 41.27 with one century and four fifties. #CricketTwitter #INDvWI #TeamIndia #RishabhPant
®️🅰️✌ℹ___🅰️🅰️🅿️
@RaviAAP_
Rishabh Pant opens #INDvWI match today.
Me who has not included him in my fantasy team
Always wanted to watch Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant bat together 🥵
KL Rahul at 5 is a beast 🔥
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