Rishabh Pant Shines with Quickfire Half-Century in India's T20 World Cup Warm-Up Win Over Bangladesh

New York: Rishabh Pant reinforced his claim for a berth in India's playing XI for the T20 World Cup as the first-choice wicketkeeper batter stroked an impressive half-century to guide his side to 182/5 against Bangladesh in a warm-up match in New York on Saturday.

Pant, who was making his India comeback after that horrific car accident in December 2022, retired after smashing a quickfire 53 from 32 balls, hitting four sixes and as many sixes, on a slightly slow pitch.

But the knock has certainly given him an edge over Sanju Samson in the perceived competition for the wicketkeeper-batter slot. Samson too played the match as opener along with skipper Rohit Sharma (23 from 19 balls) as Virat Kohli, who was expected to open, skipped the match after he arrived in New York only on Friday.

However, Samson, who had a fine run in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals, was trapped in front of the wicket for a 6-ball 1 by left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam.

There were also handy contributions by Suryakumar Yadav (31 from 18 balls) and Hardik Pandya (40 not out from 23 balls) as India moved to a competitive total despite not having any single big partnership in their innings. But the primary architect of that fighting total was Pant.

Pant, who returned to competitive cricket during the IPL 2024, had shown excellent touch for Delhi Capitals while making 287 runs from 13 matches with three fifties and at a strike-rate of 155.

In reply, Bangladesh were 106 for 5 after 17 overs. Agencies

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