Left-handed batter Rishabh Pant has finally gotten a game in the ongoing T20 World Cup as he was named in the playing XI for the side's last Super 12 match against Zimbabwe at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Pant has come in the place of Dinesh Karthik and this is the only change in the Indian lineup. Before the game against Zimbabwe, India's spot in the semi-finals was confirmed as South Africa lost their match against the Netherlands by 13 runs at the Adelaide Oval.
At the toss, captain Rohit Sharma was asked why Pant is playing ahead of Dinesh Karthik.
"One change, Rishabh Pant plays instead of DK, he is the only guy who hasn't played a single game on this tour, we wanted to give him a game," said Rohit.
Further talking about the game, Rohit said: "We will bat. It's the preference of the team to bat first, nothing to do with the pitch. We just want to bat first and give a chance to our bowlers to defend."
"Nothing changes, we need to do well as a team," he added.
Before this match, Pakistan joined Team India in the semi-finals from Group 2 after the Babar Azam-led side defeated Bangladesh by 5 wickets.
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh