ENG vs IND: I Had Said That If He Opens For Delhi Capitals, It Would Be Much Better - Virender Sehwag On Rishabh Pant

Virender Sehwag revealed that e one year ago, he had mentioned that if Rishabh Pant opens the innings for his Indian Premier League franchise (IPL) Delhi Capitals (DC) he and the franchise will benefit from it.

His words came ahead of the second T20I between England and India which will be played on July 9, 2022, at Edgbaston in Birmingham. India leads the three-match series 1-0 thanks to their emphatic 50-run win in the first match which was played in Southampton on July 7.

India posted a strong score of 198/8 in 20 overs and bowled the hosts out on 148 in 19.3 overs to secure a massive victory at the Rose Bowl. Hardik Pandya smashed a brisk half-century in the game, while Suryakumar Yadav (39) and Deepak Hooda (33) also played important knocks in the Indian innings.

Pandya shined with the ball too, taking a 4/33 while debutant Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal picked two wickets each. This included Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissing Jos Buttler for a golden duck on his debut as the full-time England white-ball captain.

While many of the fringe players did well for India in the last three T20Is including the two matches against Ireland; some of them will have to make way for the first-choice players including Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and Jasprit Bumrah among others were unavailable for the first T20I of the series; however, they will return ahead of the second game of the series in Edgbaston.

There will be a selection headache for Rohit Sharma and the team management following their arrival, with the likes of Hooda, Suryakumar, and Dinesh Karthik in good touch with the bat.

He Is Going To Play In The Middle-Order, There Is No Doubt About It: Virender Sehwag On Rishabh Pant

Virender Sehwag, on the other hand, talked about Rishabh Pant, the only player who has played regularly without a break for the past year. Pant had also led the team in the five-match home T20I series against South Africa that ended in a 2-2 draw earlier this month.

Sehwag said that while he knows Pant will bat in the middle order, he also admitted that he wanted Pant to experiment with his batting position in the 2022 Indian Premier League.

“He is going to play in the middle-order, there is no doubt about it. He can bat at no.4, no.5 could be Hardik Pandya, followed by Dinesh Karthik. But a year ago, I had said that if he opens in the batting order for Delhi Capitals, it would be much better,” Sehwag said on a pre-match show on Sony TEN.

The second T20I of the series takes place on July 9.

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