Rishabh Pant opening T20 record: The Indian wicket-keeper batter has been surprisingly promoted as an opener tonight.
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During the second T20I of the ongoing India’s tour of England in Birmingham, India have surprised one and all by promoting wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant as captain Rohit Sharma’s opening partner.
Pant, who hasn’t had the success that he should have had in T20Is by now, had been suggested to open the batting in white-ball cricket by former cricketers namely Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Bangar and others.
That being said, not many would’ve expected him to partner Sharma at the top at Edgbaston today. With India leaving out Ishan Kishan and Deepak Hooda to accommodate multi-format players in former captain Virat Kohli and Pant, Kohli was expected to open with Sharma.
Readers must note that Kohli had expressed his intention of opening the batting with Sharma in T20Is during the home series against England last year.
Pant, who used to open the batting with Kishan during his U-19 days, hasn’t replaced him as India’s opening batter for the first time. The same had happened in a home ODI against West Indies earlier this year but the move wasn’t a permanent one according to Sharma.
Rishabh Pant opening T20 record (updated)
Playing his 61st T20I in Indore tonight on his 25th birthday, Pant will be opening the batting only for the third time in this format as India are playing without vice-captain KL Rahul and former captain Virat Kohli. The only other instances of Pant opening the batting in a T20I had come during the tour of England earlier this year when the left-handed batter had scored 27 runs at a strike rate of 135 across two innings.
As far as T20s are concerned, Pant has opened the batting for Delhi Capitals (Indian Premier League 2016) and Delhi (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2017-18 and 2019-2020) in the past.
In 17 T20 innings (excluding T20Is) as an opening batter, Pant has scored 599 runs at an average and strike rate of 37.43 and 166.38 respectively. The left-handed batter has registered a century and five half-centuries with a career-best 116* (38) coming against Himachal Pradesh at the Arun Jaitley Stadium four years ago.
