World Cup 2019: Rishabh Pant joins Team India in Manchester, meets Chacha Chicago

India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant might not have been chosen in the team’s original 15-man squad for the ICC World Cup 2019, but he has finally joined the team in England, as he was called up as cover for injured opener Shikhar Dhawan. The southpaw was diagnosed with a fracture in his left thumb in the match against Australia.

Dhawan had hit a century in the match despite being hit on his thumb early in the match but didn’t come out to the field. Though there were calls for replacing Dhawan with Pant, the team management decided to call the Delhi lad as a cover only and monitoring Dhawan’s injury which means that he will miss action for two weeks at least and will not play against New Zealand (June 13), Pakistan (June 16) and Afghanistan (June 22).

India and Pakistan will meet on June 16 in a high-voltage clash in Old Trafford, Manchester and fans are already going crazy in anticipation of a mouthwatering clash. Rishabh Pant lost out on a World Cup spot to Dinesh Karthik, as the BCCI selectors went for experience and better keeping acumen over Pant’s penchant for high-risk cricket and sloppy work behind the stumps.

Meanwhile, the official Twitter account of the Indian team announced the arrival of Pant in a post which read “Look who’s here #TeamIndia #CWC19”

Rishabh Pant also had a meeting with Karachi-born cricket fanatic Mohammad Bashir better known as ‘Chacha Chicago’. Bashir is famous for his love for cricket and for sharing a very close relationship with former India captain MS Dhoni. Dhoni has been arranging match tickets for Chicago Chacha for the past eight years whenever India and Pakistan have played international cricket.

Bashir Chacha has something special planned for the Indian team, as he not only flew into Manchester from Chicago, America covering a distance of approximately 6,000 kms, but he has also carried a big supply of rose petals, that he wishes to shower on the Indian team members when they arrive in Manchester for the high octane clash in Old Trafford.