India's tour of West Indies: Skipper Virat Kohli hints at Rishabh Pant's inclusion for third ODI

Reuters

New Delhi: After a crushing 105-run victory over West Indies in the second ODI, Indian skipper Virat Kohli has now hinted towards experimenting with his squad. This could serve as an opportunity for Rishabh Pant to display his potential with the bat when the team heads to Antigua for the third encounter on June 30.

Pant had made his T20I debut donning the Indian jersey, back in February this year when India had taken on England in the third and final T20 game. Scoring just 5 runs off 11 deliveries, the young wicketkeeper-batsman may not have been satisfied with his performance.

He thus took to the tenth season of Indian Premier League where is scored 366 runs in 14 matches for his side Delhi Daredevils, hence earning ample applauds from cricketing legends. His batting prowess even earned him a place in the West Indies tour, where he was selected as the third opener.

When asked about the Pant's inclusion in a post-match conference, Virat said, "We’ll sit down and decide as a team about changes that can be made. We’ll go to Antigua and regroup, and that’s a possibility as well, give a few guys an opportunity."

As for the team, Virat seemed quite happy with the way the Men in Blue performed against the Windies. Put to bat first in the second ODI, openers Ajinkya Rahane (103) and Shikhar Dhawan (63) stitched an 114-run stand with the former notching up a century. Virat too smashed a number of boundaries as he wove 87 runs off 66 deliveries. India had finished at 310/5 in 43 overs.

This was followed by a splendid bowling performance by Bhuvneshwar Kumar grabbing two early wickets and then Kuldeep Yadav demolishing the middle order as Jason Holder's men were all out for 205.

"I am really happy with the complete performance by the entire team,” said Kohli in reflecting on his side’s dominant effort," said the 28-year-old.

"The partnership between Ajinkya and Shikhar was outstanding, and myself at the back end, with Yuvraj, Dhoni and Kedar chipping in. Early wickets for Bhuvneshwar, and really happy for Kuldeep as well bowling for the first time and taking three wickets. The bench strength has always been right up there for us."

With the win at Queen's Park Oval, India now lead 1-0 in the five-match ODI series, with rain washing out the first match.