Virat Kohli looks forward to his time in Australia with 'champion' Rishabh Pant

The Indian cricket team has reached Australia for a long tour that features three T20Is, four Tests and three ODIs and the members look upbeat. According to experts, India, who have never won a Test series in Australia, have the best chance this time to script history since the hosts are without two of their top players – Steve Smith and David Warner. The Baggy Greens currently are far from the form they are known for and turmoil, both on and off the field, has kept them rattled in recent times.

Indian captain Virat Kohli, who will be leading India as a full-time captain for the first time, took to Twitter soon after touching the shores of Australia, and he posted a photo of him with young wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant calling him a “champion”. Pant will keep for India as veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been dropped for the T20I series starting November 21. Dinesh Karthik is the other keeper in the side.

Pant has had a good 2018 so far

In the photo that Kohli posted, he was seen in a black tee while Pant was in a white. He captioned the photo saying: “Back to Australia. Looking forward to the next few weeks with this champion” suggesting it to be his junior partner. Pant, 21, made an impressive Test debut this year in England, picking up his first century in the format in just his third match at the Oval.

He then hit two back-to-back 90s against the Windies in the Test series at home that followed and then scored an eye-catching 58 in the third and final T20I match against the Windies to help his side win. Pant also appeared in a few ODIs in between against the Caribbeans only as a batsman but could not do much.

India will be hoping that the young keeper fills in the shoes of Dhoni who is in the twilight of his career. The 37-year-old is likely to continue in the ODIs till the World Cup in May-July 2019 and after that, Pant is expected to don the mantle in the 50-over format as well.

Here is Virat’s tweet

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