The new Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid management sprung up a surprise when they sent Rishabh Pant to open the batting alongside Sharma in the second ODI against West Indies on Wednesday in Ahmedabad.
This was a major surprise considering two factors: Rishabh Pant has never opened in international cricket in any of his previous 91 innings so far; KL Rahul, the vice-captain and regular opener, is back in the eleven in place of Ishan Kishan, who opened in the first ODI, but will bat in the middle-order.
Pant had, however, opened the innings during the 2016 under-19 World Cup when he smashed 78 runs off 24 balls against Nepal under-19. Although Pant has experience of opening the batting, there is a huge difference in doing it at the under-19 level and senior level.
The other school of thought is that the management is preparing KL Rahul for a middle-order role. With Shikhar Dhawan currently in quarantine after testing positive for covid-19 ahead of the series, the management decided to give Pant a go at the top.
One may believe that when Dhawan is available – either for the third ODI or the next series – he will slot right back into his opening position – one which he hasn’t done anything wrong to lose – and KL Rahul getting settled in the middle-order role. Dhawan registered scores of 79, 29, and 61 in the South Africa ODI series and was India’s highest run-getter in the series which they lost 3-0. Dhawan-Rohit has been India’s stable and trusted opening pair in ODIs since 2013 and are likely to continue till the 2023 World Cup at home.
Either way, fans were left stunned – perhaps even the West Indian would team, too – when Pant came out to open the innings and started with his light run between the crease on Wednesday in the second ODI.
Netizens had all sorts of reactions – surprise, excitement, expectations, delight – when the 24-year-old made his way in the middle along with skipper Rohit Sharma.
Here are some of the tweets reacting to Pant’s surprise promotion at the top:
Rohit has done a Dhoni here. Taken his first punt with Pant as an ODI opener. Exactly how MSD did with him in 2013 #INDvWI
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) February 9, 2022
Pant opening with Rohit ??
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) February 9, 2022
India have made a change that their ODI team needed. Rahul will add experience in the middle and Pant dynamism at the top
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) February 9, 2022
JEEZ.. I can’t believe my eyes. https://t.co/eLWjaiY0M3
— Alagappan Vijayakumar (@IndianMourinho) February 9, 2022
Pant as opener. Good call. Think he has done it in IPL and KL has a really superb record in the middle order. And if Rohit, Pant combination comes off it will be a nightmare for opposition. #INDvsWI
— Unnikrishnan (@unni1974) February 9, 2022
Rishabh Pant is opening for Team India pic.twitter.com/Azc0K7lRvi
— THALAPATHY PRAVIN (@Itz_PravinVJ) February 9, 2022
Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant opening for Team India
Fans:- pic.twitter.com/WiMRqsaMb7— ASmemesss (@asmemesss) February 9, 2022
Everyone after looking Rishabh Pant opening the innings!#INDvWI pic.twitter.com/3d1LDXMGBJ
— Bhartendu Dubey (@9578Bdubey) February 9, 2022
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
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) February 9, 2022
Everyone after seeing Pant opening today.#IndianCricketTeam #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/b1eK6k7wS6
— Karan Chhabra (@ChhabraKkc) February 9, 2022
Rishabh Pant before the match started today pic.twitter.com/FqAV9VmJFi
— Arvind (@airwind_ac) February 9, 2022
Windies players after seeing Rishabh pant in opening :-#INDvWI pic.twitter.com/DOEK7FSumf
— Nagendra singh chouhan?? (@k_p_7773) February 9, 2022
