I think Rishabh will be in India's playing XI for the T20 World Cup: Nikhil Chopra

The Indian team tussled against Hong Kong after their thrilling victory in the epic clash against Pakistan in the previous encounter. The Men in Blue are favorites against Hong Kong, who made it to the Asia Cup group stages after triumphing in the qualifiers. Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma included Rishabh Pant for the game, a move which pleased former Indian cricketer Nikhil Chopra. 

Pant was omitted from the playing XI in favour of veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik against Pakistan. But the southpaw has found his way back into the team as the in-form Hardik Pandya was rested for the game against Hong Kong. Former Indian cricketer Nikhil Chopra, who is part of the expert panel on BatBricks7 presents the Run Ki Runneeti show on CricTracker, expressed his delight at the inclusion of Pant in the starting XI.

"No real surprise, we were talking about this. I think Rishabh will be in India's playing XI for the T20 World Cup because of the explosive power he brings to the table after coming on to bat in the middle order. The more matches he plays the better it gets for the Indian team as a batter likes to be in the habit of making runs. I am really happy that he is in the team as you want to play him more and more because of his explosive nature," Chopra said on CrickTracker's show when asked about Rishabh Pant's inclusion.

Deep Dasgupta bats for more game time for Rishabh Pant

Although Rishabh Pant's inclusion in the playing XI was a cause for excitement, Deep Dasgupta hoped that the batter gets some game time. The former Indian wicketkeeper believes that batting Pant at no. five is a waste of his talents and won't give him enough time in the middle.

"You have played Rishabh against Hong Kong, fair enough, but where does he bat? there is no point in putting him at no.5. If you bat him at no.5 then there is no point. If you have included him then you have to make sure he gets some time in the middle otherwise it makes no point and hopefully he gets to play an innings of some sort or get to bat," Deep Dasgupta said to CricTracker.