New Delhi: Rishabh Pant, touted as a future replacement for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, once again failed to make the India XI as Virat Kohli & Co take on the West Indies in the fourth and penultimate match of the ODI series on Sunday.
As soon as the news of playing XI broke, fans took to social media platforms to vent out their anger, with many blaming the skipper for giving the 19-year-old talent the cold shoulder again.
India have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead after three outings in the five-match series with the first encounter being washed out; and going by the trend, the visitors are expected to wrap up the series without much ado. In such a scenario, fans were expecting India to test the bench strength.
Yes, fielding Dinesh Karthik can be considered testing the bench strength, but there India's think-tank seemed to have compromised the future, especially considering the talent someone like Pant carries.
Here are some tweets, which more or less, summed up their collective anger:
Why #Kohli didn't give a single CHANCE to #RishabhPANT? #WIvsIND
— nik (@rhysnik) July 2, 2017
no rishabh pant today,what's wrong with u man @imVkohli why r u not giving youngsters chance.@vikrantgupta73
— Swapnil (@swapnilm36) July 2, 2017
Trying to figure out why Rishabh Pant is yet to make his ODI debut. #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/fPwCqU0A8P
— Nikhil (@CricCrazyNIKS) June 30, 2017
HUMEE bhi mauka dedhooo sir #Rishabhpant @rishabhpant #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/RN7BiKdLra
— ghanchi praveenkumar (@GhanchiPraveen) July 2, 2017
Still no Rishabh Pant. This is getting ridiculous. #WIvIND
— Ajit Vijaykumar (@ajvk1984) July 2, 2017
No Pant for India is mental. How does he not play in this game?#WIvInd
— Robbie B (@cricketpunting) July 2, 2017
#WIvIND MR.@imVkohli while @YUVSTRONG12 get injured why can't u give a one chance to @RishabPant777 in team.What is the use of @DK in team.
— @Im_Kumar (@ImKumarchinna12) July 2, 2017
Jadeja & Karthik?? Seriously??. Where the hell is Rishabh Pant??. Guess he was put in squad just to serve drinks during d game. #WIvIND
— Tweeter (@tweeter_04) July 2, 2017
Still No Rishab Pant?? Why?#WIvIND
— Rajesh Khilare (@Cricrajeshpk) July 2, 2017
seems like everyone will get a chance to play, but Rishabh Pant #WIvIND
— Gagan Thakur (@gagan_gt) July 2, 2017
For the record, there was no Yuvraj Singh in the playing XI, purportedly given a break. In his place, Karthik was brought it. It was one of the three changes made today by Kohli.
Here is the XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (C), Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav
West Indies skipper Jason Holder won the toss and opted to bat first at North Sound. The fifth and final match of the series will be played on Thursday in Kingston. The tour will wind up with Sunday's T20I at the same venue.
