Rishabh Pant opening in ODIs an experiment, India will look to carry template forward it if works: Sunil Gavaskar
India Today
India vs West Indies: Rishabh Pant got out for 18 after he was asked to open for India in ODI cricket for the first time. Batting great Sunil Gavaskar shared his thoughts on India's surprise move.
In a move that helped raise quite a few eyebrows, India got wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant to open the innings along with captain Rohit Sharma in the 2nd ODI against the West Indies in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, February 9. Pant walked out to bat with his skipper after the West Indies won the toss and oped to bowl in their must-win game of the 3-match series.
It was a surprising move from the Indian team management as they had dropped Ishan Kishan from the XI and brought back KL Rahul, their vice-captain, who missed out on the 1st ODI due to personal reasons. With Shikhar Dhawan still not available for selection after recovering from Covid-19, Pant was asked to open the batting for India for the first time in ODIs.
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Notably, Pant was moved to the No. 4 spot during the ODI series in South Africa in January and he continued at that spot in the first ODI against the West Indies on Sunday.
With quite a few players, including the likes of Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mayank Agarwal, competing for the opening spot, India's decision to open with Pant in the 2nd ODI was certainly out of the box.
The move did not work as planned as Pant threw his wicket away for 18 after batting out 34 deliveries in the middle. Pant went for a pull shot against Odean Smith, who replaced Kieron Pollard, in the 12th over and was caught at fine leg.
However, batting great Sunl Gavaskar believes that it's an experiment that India are making and if it works, they might as well carry forward the template into next year's World Cup which will be played in India.
