ICC World Cup 2019: Michael Vaughan questions Rishabh Pant’s exclusion from the Indian squad

Yesterday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup in England and Wales. The squad was announced yesterday and one can change it without informing the International Cricket Council (ICC), until April 23. Chief selector MSK Prasad and secretary Amitabh Chaudhary attended a press conference in Mumbai.

India will be playing a couple of warm-up matches before the team, captained by Virat Kohli, faces South Africa in their opening encounter on Wednesday, June 5 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. As far as the squad is concerned, Rishabh Pant couldn’t make the cut for the mega event. He made his debut in the five-match ODI series against the Windies last year in October.

Vaughan bats for Rishabh Pant

Pant made his international debut in a T20I against England back in 2016 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. However, he somehow hasn’t been able to make a mark for himself in coloured-clothing cricket despite getting a lot of chances. In the 50-overs format, he has only notched 93 runs in five matches at a rather abysmal batting average of 23.25.

Even in the recently concluded ODI series against Australia, he was mediocre with the bat in hand, more so with the wicketkeeping gloves. Pant was replaced by the very experienced Dinesh Karthik, who didn’t play the Australia series, after which many experts believed that his ODI career was over.

In the meantime, former England captain Michael Vaughan reckons the Pant should have been included. The same is for the reason that India have only one left-handed batsman in their top seven and that’s Shikhar Dhawan. He took to Twitter and wrote, “Only 1 left hander in the Indian Top 7 for the WC …. Another reason why @RishabPant777 should have been included …. !!! #OnOn,”

Here is Vaughan’s tweet

Only 1 left hander in the Indian Top 7 for the WC …. Another reason why @RishabPant777 should have been included …. !!! #OnOn

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 16, 2019

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