Rishabh Pant failed for the second successive ODI against Australia as he edged a Nathan Lyon delivery to first slip to walk back to the pavilion at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi after scoring 16 runs in the 5th ODI on March 13.
Pant was given an opportunity to audition for the role of the second wicketkeeper as MS Dhoni was rested for the final two ODIs of the series but the 21-year-old failed to make a firm claim to make it to the squad which will travel to England for the World Cup in May.
Pant had a rather forgettable game in Mohali on March 10 too. With the bat, he did not do too badly as he scored 34 runs off 20 balls. But he was expected to score more runs on a pitch that was aiding the batsmen and his style of strokeplay. After getting off to a brisk start, he threw his wicket away trying to hoick the ball over midwicket. With the gloves, Pant had a real nightmare as he missed two stumping chances -- one of Peter Handscomb and the other was of Ashton Turner.
The miss of Turner proved to be costly as when he missed the chance Turner was just starting his innings and Australia needed 72 runs to win from seven overs. The Aussie middle-order batsman subsequently took the game away and chased the runs down with more than two overs to spare.
In the 5th ODI, Pant had a better day behind the stumps but once again disappointed with the bat when he came out to bat at number 4 in the absence of KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu. The Delhi boy could have completely booked his ticket to England with a strong performance in the run chase as he walked into bat following Virat Kohli's dismissal. He got off to a good start and looked pretty comfortable in the middle but in the 18th over of the innings, poked at a Lyon delivery and Turner gobbled up the chance at first slip.
Fans on Twitter were naturally upset and wanted Dinesh Karthik to be selected in place of Pant in the World Cup squad.
*When the bat is John Cena*#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/S0hJvODabh
— Tweetera? (@DoctorrSays) March 13, 2019
India Needs Dinesh Karthik In Place Of Rishabh Pant!!#INDvAUS
— SyEd aLi RiZvI (علي) (@Azaan_Rizvi_) March 13, 2019
#RishabhPant is not going to England for the #CWC19
— Vipul Singh (@iamVipul_Singh) March 13, 2019
Surely not after this performance tonight#INDvAUS
?? ?? ?? Not even in top 20..... RT @chetannarula: On evidence of Mohali and Dehi ODIs alone, both keeping and batting, Rishabh Pant doesn’t get into my World Cup squad. #IndvAus
— Rajanikant (@coep05) March 13, 2019
My thought on Rishabh Pant #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/t5fBz5sKLo
— Prince Pandey ?? (@princepandey_) March 13, 2019
Rishabh Pant is not ready to play international ODI cricket at present forget about selecting him in World Cup 2019.
— ARJUN GROVER (@TechieArjunYT) March 13, 2019
DK should be the backup Keeper in WC 2019 Team
Baat khatam #INDvAUS
#INDvAUS
— Abhishek sharma (@ooobhaishab) March 13, 2019
Rishabh pant after his knock today pic.twitter.com/07rSIzQxxl
I will be very disappointed if Rishabh Pant gets selected for the World Cup ahead of Dinesh Karthik. Pant has got enough opportunities to prove himself, but I am afraid he hasn't utilised those at all.#INDvAUS
— Sandipan Banerjee (@im_sandipan) March 13, 2019
This is why you keep Dinesh Kartik instead of Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar. Totally disappointed that DK was not even a part of the squad.#indvsaus5thodi #INDvAUS
— Apurwa Dwivedi (@ApurwaDwivedi) March 13, 2019
Yeh chomu bol raha hai ki yeh all-rounder hai..#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/9RMsLUIEX7
— Navdeep Singh (@navi0815) March 13, 2019
Since Pant's dismissal, India completely lost their way, losing three more wickets and is staring at a series defeat. With six wickets down, the onus now lies on Kedar Jadhav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to pull off a miracle and avoid Kohli's first home series defeat as a skipper.