ICC World Cup 2019 | Rishabh Pant should come in for Shikhar Dhawan, says Virender Sehwag

ICC World Cup 2019 | Rishabh Pant should come in for Shikhar Dhawan, says Virender Sehwag

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Virender Sehwag has stated that Rishabh Pant should be named as a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan and he should play in the middle order while KL Rahul opens the innings. Pant was among the standys for the World Cup and has been called in only as a cover for the injured opening batsman.

Post Shikhar Dhawan’s thumb injury, the team management has decided to wait for the opener to recover and has not named a replacement. Rishabh Pant has been called as a cover in case there is a worst case scenario. It is likely that either Vijay Shankar or Dinesh Karthik will play in the middle-order and KL Rahul will shift to the opener’s slot. Nevertheless, Virender Sehwag feels that Pant should play in the middle order.

“I feel Rishabh Pant should come in for Shikhar Dhawan, because even he (Pant) is a good striker like Dhawan. It would be better if Pant comes in for India,” he said in an interview to Shoaib Akhtar on the pacer’s Youtube channel.

KL Rahul seemed to be the answer for India’s middle-order as he blasted a century in the warm-up game. He followed it up with a 26 run innings against South Africa while he hit an unbeaten 11 off three in the game against Australia. Sehwag was all praise for the Karnataka batsman. 

“KL Rahul is a good batsman and it will take time for him to become a big player. Even in the game against Australia, he hit a four and a six in the three balls he played. So he has the firepower to rule international cricket,” he expressed.

Mohammad Amr has lit the tournament by bagging highest ten wickets in three innings so far while Wahab Riaz has produced a few good spells and has picked four wickets so far. On the other hand, Hasan Ali has has been taken to the cleaners with just one wicket to his name. The former India batsman feels that the main contest will be between the India skipper Virat Kohli and the Pakistan pacers when the two sides face each other on Sunday.

“Pakistan’s pacers have always been very good. It was always said that the contest is between Pakistan’s bowling and India’s batting. Even now, its the same thing, people are talking about the contest between Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir and Virat Kohli. The main concern would be Hasan Ali not picking wickets in the middle overs,” reckoned the 40-year-old.

Akhtar was quick to blame the new laws, which mandate the use of two new balls in an ODI innings, for the drastic fall in Ali’s form.

“That is because reverse swing is not taking place after the rule to use two new balls,” he pointed out.

Akhtar felt that India will be in trouble if the top three are sent back to pavilion soon and even if there is considerable grass on the pitch. However, Sehwag dismissed the Pakistan pacer’s claims.

“Pakistan need to dismiss (top) three batsmen to stop India. If there is unlikely grass in Manchester, then it might spell trouble for India,” said Akhtar, to which Sehwag replied, “I don’t think so, there will be problems for Pakistan as well. But it is true that India may not score big if the top three fails. The middle order did play well in the previous game but they are not the same when they are asked to face the new ball.”

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