Making India's World Cup squad will be dream come true for Rishabh Pant

For Rishabh Pant, the path towards earning his first berth in a World Cup squad has been quite a rough one. The young wicket-keeper-batsman saw a meteoric rise in Test cricket but has not been so successful in the limited-overs formats. The selectors picked the man ahead of the experienced Dinesh Karthik in the ODI series against Australia at home last month but when Pant’s opportunity came as the team’s wicket-keeper as MS Dhoni was rested, he failed to impress and there was call for his ouster immediately.

The Delhi cricketer, who is currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Delhi Capitals (DC) and started off well with a 27-ball 78 not out against Mumbai Indians, has one eye on the selection of India’s WC squad which will be announced during the IPL. With the opportunity received in the Australia series failing to produce the desired results, Pant remains a fringe player as far as the WC squad is concerned but the young hard-hitting wicket-keeper-batsman feels that it will be nothing but a dream-come-true if he eventually makes the cut.

The WC will kick off at the Kennington Oval on May 30 with a game between hosts England and South Africa. India will be playing their first game of the tournament on June 5 against the Proteas at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.

Pant wants to win more games for India

“World Cup selection will be a dream come true. I want to win matches for India and be more consistent and finish more games for the country,” India Today quoted the 21-year-old Pant as saying on Tuesday.

Pant came under severe criticism in the Australia series, particularly because of his sloppy act with the gloves in the fourth match in Mohali. The spectators were so upset that they were heard chanting “Dhoni, Dhoni” after Pant failed to come up with neat work. Australia went on to win that game chasing a 300-plus target and Pant’s keeping came under the scanner all the more.

“See, as a player I want to keep improving every day. I’ve seen a few areas in my game where I need to work on and I’ve talked about my game to Mahi bhai about that. But as a player, you need to keep improving, every match, every day,” Pant was quoted as saying ahead of the start of IPL 2019.

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