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Watch: Rishabh Pant channels MS Dhoni in India net session, brings out 'Helicopter Shot' ahead of Hong Kong Asia Cup tie
Rishabh Pant had been dropped from the Indian squad for their thriller of a first match of the Asia Cup against Pakistan but is expected to play against Hong Kong.
Rishabh Pant getting dropped for what turned out to be a thriller of an India-Pakistan clash was one of the biggest surprises to come out of the toss for the match. It was veteran Dinesh Karthik who kept wickets but India didn't seem to miss Pant too much in the middle order as they won the match by five wickets in Dubai.
Pant, understandably, seems determined to show that he deserves a place in future matches and could be sweating it out in the nets ahead of India's match on Wednesday against minnows Hong Kong. In one clip on social media, Pant can be seen channeling legendary former India captain and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni, hitting the latter's signature helicopter shot.
India were set a target of 148 to win by Pakistan. While openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma made little impact on the scorecard, the embattled Virat Kohli scored a valuable 35 off 34 balls on a tricky pitch. It was all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya who did the bulk of the chasing though and the latter won the match by hitting a six off the fourth ball of the last over. Pandya had earlier stood out with the ball as well, taking three important wickets for 25 runs in four overs and was thus the obvious choice for player of the match.
Former India selector Saba Karim, like many noted ex-cricketers, however, believes that Pant should be picked looking at the future.
“I was surprised because I do stick to my earlier stand of having Pant in the side in place of Dinesh Karthik because I always felt that we need to look ahead and even now I do believe that Rishabh Pant can add far more value with due respect to Dinesh Karthik than Dinesh Karthik. But there can be possible explanations over there about which one can chat.” Karim said on SPORTS18’s show ‘Sports Over The Top’.
