Rishabh Pant joins India team in Manchester

Promising wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has reached Manchester and joined the Indian team preparing for the much-awaited World Cup tie against Pakistan on Sunday.

The BCCI on Saturday tweeted an image of Pant in Indian gear at the Old Trafford. Another image on the Indian team's Instagram handle showed Pant training with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik.

There has been no official word yet as to whether Pant has been made part of the squad with the BCCI saying earlier that the Delhi lad was in the UK as a standby for injured opener Shikhar Dhawan.

Dhawan, who scored a match-winning century against Australia on June 9, reportedly played much of that innings with a hairline fracture on his left thumb which he sustained after being hit by a bouncer from Pat Cummins early in the innings.

K.L. Rahul, who has opened the innings a number of times in limited over cricket for India, has played in the middle order in the World Cup thus far. India have Vijay Shankar and Dinesh Karthik in the squad who could replace Rahul in the middle order if the latter is required to open the innings with Rohit Sharma.

--IANS

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