Rishabh Pant, T20, Hundred, Fastest ton, Feroz Shah Kotla, Himachal Pradesh.
Rishabh Pant has already set his horizon to play for the national team. Photo Credit: Getty Images.

After almost three years, MS Dhoni is set to be rested for the first time.

A report in TOI suggests that Dhoni will not travel to Sri Lanka for the Nidahas Trophy and it will be Rishabh Pant who will go as the wicketkeeper-batsman.

If given a chance, then it will be the first time when Rishabh will play as a specialist wicketkeeper-batsman as on past two occasions he played, Dhoni was also part of the playing XI.

Rishabh Pant, T20, Hundred, Fastest ton, Feroz Shah Kotla, Himachal Pradesh.
Rishabh Pant last played for India against Windies in 2017. Photo Credit: Getty Images.

He earned his maiden national call-up for the home T20I series against England.

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Making his debut in the final T20I, Rishabh scored 5* runs in three balls.

He was rewarded for his IPL run and was named on the standby list for the ICC Champions Trophy.

Later, he was selected in the squad for the Windies series – for both ODIs and T20Is.

However, with the presence of Ajinkya Rahane as an opener and Dhoni as wicketkeeper, he did not get a chance in ODIs.

He played the sole T20I, where he scored 38 runs.

With Indian team not playing a complete T20I series against Sri Lanka, selectors announced a  common squad for the limited overs series and hence, he was dropped.

Meanwhile, Rishabh’s form dipped in domestic cricket, thus ruling him out of contention.

Rishabh Pant, T20, Hundred, Fastest ton, Feroz Shah Kotla, Himachal Pradesh.
Rishabh Pant was the joint highest run-scorer in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Photo Credit: IE.

In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he showed his prowess in T20 cricket and emerged out as the joint highest run-scorer with Kedar Devdhar. They both scored 411 runs.

He (Rishabh) was in contention to be selected for South Africa series but Suresh Raina pipped him as selectors chose an experienced player.

He is now, however, looks set to make a comeback in the T20I side.

If he does well in the series, selectors might also give him a longer rope in the shortest format of the game.

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With Dhoni yet to perform on a consistent basis in T20I format, selectors might not shy away from making Dhoni an ODI specialist, keeping in mind Dhoni’s future after 2019 World Cup as next T20 World Cup is in 2020.

Apart from Dhoni, many of the other players also in line to be rested for the Nidahas Trophy.

Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya might be rested for the tri-series.

The Nidahas Trophy starts on March 6 with the first game to be played between India and Sri Lanka.

The final of the tri-series will be played on March 18.

Follow Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018 here –

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