'Can't believe it' - Twitter comes up mixed reactions as Rishabh Pant is picked ahead of Saha in Wellington Test
Was it right on India's part to bench Wriddhiman Saha?
The much-awaited Test series between India and New Zealand got underway on Saturday at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. And once again, the visiting captain Virat Kohli surprised everyone with his selection decision, which has been a topic to discuss whenever India has played Tests away from home in recent times. This time around, it was about Rishabh Pant playing ahead of Wriddhiman Saha after not playing even a game throughout the limited-overs leg of the tour.
The left-hander was left out of the five T20 Internationals and three ODIs early on in the tour. While the likes of Sanju Samson and others got a chance in the dead rubbers, the team management didn’t give a chance to Pant which had raised doubts over his international career.
Rishabh Pant took the field for the first time in New Zealand only in the warm-up game ahead of the Test series and failed in the first innings as well.
Rishabh Pant scored a brilliant half-century in the second innings
However, he made amends in the second essay scoring a quickfire 70 off just 65 deliveries. Saha, on the other hand, didn’t feature in India A game which was surprising and then bagged a duck in the practice game before scoring a gritty 30 in the second innings. No wonder he was the favourite to make it to the playing XI ahead of Rishabh Pant in the series opener at Wellington. But Kohli and his left-field selection has once again caught many by surprise.
One reason behind the touring team going with the youngster could be his attacking style of play which one might need to make things happen on New Zealand pitches. However, it will be interesting to see if Pant will live up to the expectations. Having said that, the southpaw has centuries to his name in Australia and England and will be itching to make it count in this Test match.
On the other hand, Wriddhiman Saha will be feeling hard done and this also raises a question now if he will be limited to keeping only in India. Meanwhile, early morning in India, the fans came up with mixed reactions after Rishabh Pant got his first chance in the Kiwi nation.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
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