Twitter reacts as Rishabh Pant opens with Rohit Sharma in second T20I versus England

India sprung a surprise early in the second T20I against England at Edgbaston on Thursday, with Rishabh Pant walking in to open alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.
 
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Pant has never opened in T20Is before.

India had a new opening pair in the second T20I against England on Thursday, with wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant partnering skipper Rohit Sharma at the top. India made four changes to their XI from the series opener in Southampton, with Pant, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah coming in for Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh.

Amidst all the speculation of Kohli opening with Rohit, the former India captain was slated to bat at his usual one-down position. India continued with the left-right combination at the top, with Pant replacing his U19 skipper Kishan at the position.

The move worked for India, as the pair added 49 off 5.1 overs, with Rohit scoring 31 off those. The right-hander struck three fours and two sixes during his 20-ball stay, before top-edging one off Richard Gleeson through to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler to hand the right-arm quick his maiden T20I wicket. 

Kohli fell for a single on his comeback in Gleeson's next over, while Pant was dismissed caught-behind the very next ball for 26 off 15, after having struck three fours and two sixes. India stumbled from 49/1 to 61/3, which would soon become 89/5 by the 11th over, as Chris Jordan removed Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya off successive balls.

India were 91/5 from 12 overs at the time of writing, with Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja at the crease.

Here’s how the fans reacted to India’s new opening combination: