A few hours after announcing his retirement and a day before Rishabh Pant was sent to England as Shikhar Dhawan’s cover, Yuvraj Singh had named Pant as his successor in the Indian limited overs side. As fate would have it, Pant finally became a part of India’s World Cup squad after being named as an official replacement of Dhawan on Wednesday.
Dhawan, who was in a race against time to regain fitness for the latter half of the World Cup, was ruled out of the tournament after medical reports confirmed a fracture on his left thumb.
It would be an over exaggeration to say that Yuvraj had predicted Pant’s inclusion in India’s World Cup squad but the recently retired left-hander did give a clear insight about Pant’s future in India colours.
“Rishabh Pant has the potential to be better than me. And he has proven himself in a short span of time,” Yuvraj had said moments after announcing his retirement on June 10.
“He scored two test hundreds away – in Australia and England. He has a lot of potential. He has it in him to be a very attacking and match winning left hander. I am really looking forward to seeing him in the next few years,” said Yuvraj.
