World Cup 2019 | India will miss Rishabh Pant in the tournament, says Sourav Ganguly

World Cup 2019 | India will miss Rishabh Pant in the tournament, says Sourav Ganguly

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Sourav Ganguly has stated that India will miss the services of explosive batsman Rishabh Pant in the middle-order in the upcoming world Cup. The former India captain is the advisor of Delhi Capitals and thereby, he has observed the wicket-keeper batsman from close quarters.

Rishabh Pant had only featured in four ODIs and 15 T20Is for India before the World Cup, and more or less failed to justify his selection in those opportunities. He has however struck two centuries in testing overseas conditions in Tests and also had another good run in the Indian Premier League by scoring 488 at a strike rate of 162.66 in 16 innings for Delhi Capitals. Sourav Ganguly, DC advisor, feels that Pant will be missed in the upcoming World Cup in United Kingdom.

"India will miss Pant in the World Cup. I don't know in whose place but he will be missed," Ganguly told reporters at Eden Gardens, reported PTI.

Middle order batsman Kedar Jadhav, who also doubles as a part time spin option, had injured his shoulder while fielding for his franchise Chennai Super Kings. Pant and Ambati Rayudu are among the back-up options but the selectors are still assessing the extent of the Maharashtra batsman’s injury. When asked about the probability of Pant replacing Jadhav, Ganguly said that he hoped the latter gains fitness.

"He is injured. It's difficult to say whether he will get fit or not. I hope Kedar gets fit,” he expressed.

DC had equal number of wins as the two table toppers Mumbai Indians and CSK, but the Shreyas Iyer led side ended up at number three on the points table due to an inferior net run rate. They lost to CSK in the Eliminator on May 10 and thereby, were knocked out. ‘Dada’, as he is fondly called, reckoned that they are yet to think about the way forward.

"We played exceptionally well but two other teams made the final. The season just got over, we have not thought about it (the way forward)," the 46-year-old shared.

After the win in the finals, MI became the first ever team to have won four IPL trophies whereas CSK have featured in eight finals in ten seasons, having won three of them. Ganguly went on to term MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma as the two best captains of the cash rich league.

"Two best captains of the IPL and one of them won. Everyone will learn under pressure. Both CSK and Mumbai were fantastic teams," he signed off.

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