India face Afghanistan in their upcoming Cricket World Cup fixture at Rose Bowl Cricket Ground, on June 22. Virat Kohli's side have been in excellent form dominating proceedings in all their fixtures. But now they are without their star man, Shikhar Dhawan. The opener has been ruled out of the tournament due to a fractured thumb. The BCCI has flown in Rishabh Pant has his replacement, who was earlier named as a standby. Speaking to Yuzvendra Chahal, Pant spoke about his return to the national team.
The wicket-keeper batsman revealed that the news came to him, when he was with his mother. It led to her visiting the temple straightaway.
He also spoke about his reaction on not getting selected in the first place. "When I didn't get selected, I thought may be I didn't do something right, so I became more positive and focused on how to improve myself. Then I did well in IPL. I kept practising. Everyone has one dream of making India win the World Cup," said Pant on a Chahal TV episode, posted by BCCI's Twitter account.
"As a cricketer, from very young, I always thought of playing in at least one World Cup no matter what and performing for India. And now that I have got the call up, I am very happy," he added.
Dhawan was hit on his thumb by a delivery from Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile, earlier in the tournament during India Vs Australia. After the incident, Dhawan looked to be in pain but continued to bat, scoring 117 runs off 109 runs. However, he didn't take the field during Australia's innings. Dhawan was expected to be back before the Bangladesh fixture on July 2, but won't be available anymore.
