Rishabh Pant is being groomed as MS Dhoni’s successor behind the wicket. Rishabh Pant is being groomed as MS Dhoni’s successor behind the wicket.

Ahead of the series opener against the West Indies in Florida, India captain Virat Kolhi said the time had come for Rishabh Pant to “unleash” his rich potential in all three formats. Yet, in the very first match on Saturday, Pant tried to hit the very first ball that he faced out of the park and was out caught in the deep. And who was left fuming at the non-striker’s end? Kohli himself.

With little clarity over the future of veteran M S Dhoni, Pant has now become the preferred choice in all three formats, and that was pointed out by chief selector MSK Prasad after the selection panel picked the squads for the West Indies tour.

“It’s a great opportunity for someone like Rishabh Pant to really play a lot of international cricket, show his credentials, really unleash his potential at this stage,” Kohli said here on Friday. “We know how much ability he has and we all want him to become a consistent performer for the Indian cricket team. MS Dhoni’s experience is always going to be a very crucial factor but having said that some of these younger guys have a great opportunity ahead of them and they should just look forward to it.”

Kohli has already said the tour is a good opportunity for fringe players like Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey to stake a claim for a spot in India’s brittle middle-order in ODIs.

“The first few days after we exited the World Cup were quite difficult. Till the time the tournament got over, every time we woke up it was the worst feeling in the morning. Then through the day you do things and sort of get on with your life. We are professionals. We move ahead. So we are quite okay with what happened in the World Cup,”

Among other things, Kohli was all for having more international games in the United States. “You see 15,000-20,000 people going to a place to watch something, obviously it should be important. Hopefully in years to come, people will have more interest. Local people in America as well, not just the Asian community or the West Indian community but the whole community in general will have more interest in the sport. I think T20 cricket is something that can be understood and accepted in the American culture because of the length of the game and it’s quite entertaining as well. So I think for the sport to become global in many ways, a lot of interest here will go a long way in achieving that for the sport,” he added.

WI vs India, 2nd T20 — Live on Sony Six, 8 pm onwards

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