Bad news for Shikhar Dhawan! This Australian legend wants Rishabh Pant to open the batting with Rohit Sharma

Former Australian cricketer Shane Warne wants Rishabh Pant to open the batting for India in ICC 2019 Cricket World Cup. The Australian spinner feels that Indian captain Virat Kohli should promote Rishabh Pant to open the innings along with Rohit Sharma in the 50-over tournament to take everyone by surprise.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have been a formidable openers for India since 2015 in 20 and 50 over format. The opening duo have notched 4318 runs together in 96 ODIs they have played so far as an opening duo. They have 14 century stand from the 96 ODIs they have played together and are fourth in the list of highest opening partnership runs in a career.

The 49-year-old cricketer also feels that both MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant can play together in one team as their has been talks about only one wicket-keeper batsman should be in playing XI. Warne said that Shikhar Dhawan does a great job in opening for India but if Rishabh Pant opens with Rohit Sharma it would be pretty cool to watch.

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However, Pant doesn’t have a good record with his bat in the ODIs as in the three matches he have played till now, he has only 41 runs under his name with a highest score of 24. Pant has an average of 20.50 which is pretty bad for a player of his calibre.

The 21-year-old Delhi batsman made his ODI debut against bottom ranked West Indies on October 21, 2018. Pant did not get a chance to bat as the captain and the vice-captain notched up 292 runs together to take India to the finishing lines.

Rishabh Pant is likely to play the five-match ODI series against Australia starting from February 24 in India.

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