IND vs AFG: Watch - Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant Reunite In Bengaluru Ahead Of Third T20I

Ahead of the third IND vs AFG T20I match, Indian batsman Virat Kohli and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant met at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The third T20I match of Afghanistan’s tour of India will be played on January 17. Pant is undergoing his rehabilitation period at the National Cricket Academy whereas, India were practicing ahead of the third T20I match.

Virat Kohli played his first T20I match after a gap of 14 months during the second IND vs AFG T20I match. On the other hand, Rishabh Pant has been away from international cricket since December 2022 after he faced a deadly accident while returning to his home in Uttarakhand. Pant went under surgeries in January 2023 and since then has been undergoing his rehabilitation period.

Rishabh Pant is expected to return in the Indian Premier League 2024 for the Delhi Capitals. Pant also missed the IPL 2023, Asia Cup 2023, and the ODI World Cup 2023 due to his injury. However, Pant often uploads glimpses of his recovery on his official Instagram handle and is recovering more quickly than it was expected.

Watch – Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant reunite in Bengaluru

Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant together in practice session at Chinnaswamy.

– Video of the Day! pic.twitter.com/Cq1Dj5j5ik

— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) January 16, 2024

Getting back to Virat Kohli, the right-handed batsman has been in tremendous form for the last 1.5 years. Virat faced a lean patch of more than 3 years wherein centuries almost dried up from his bat. Virat was the second-highest run-scorer in 2023 and slammed the most 8 hundreds. Virat was also the leading run scorer in the ODI World Cup 2023 after which he was named as the Player of the Tournament. Kohli also became the first-ever batsman to slam 50 ODI tons and now is hunting Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international hundreds.

If Rishabh Pant returns to the cricket field in the Indian Premier League 2024, then he shall also have a chance to get picked for the T20 World Cup 2024. However, it will be Rishabh Pant’s performance in IPL 2024, which will define his place in the upcoming ICC tournament.

Returning to the IND vs AFG T20I series, the Indian cricket team have already sealed the series after winning the second match by six wickets. It was Shivam Dube again who starred in the match and played an unbeaten knock of 63 runs. Dube also scored 60* runs in the first T20I match and became the hero of India’s win in Mohali.

India will walk into Bengaluru to whitewash Afghanistan as it will be their last T20I match ahead of the T20 World Cup in June. India’s first match is against Ireland on June 5 whereas they will face Pakistan on June 9.

India have not won an ICC trophy in the last 10 years and faced a huge heartbreak after they lost the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia. India were unbeaten for 10 games ahead of the final and were just one win shy from leveling Australia’s record of most wins in an ODI World Cup. India would want to end their ICC title drought in 2024.