Rishabh Pant receives standing ovation from Chennai crowd despite MS Dhoni's absence

India captain Virat Kohli had recently requested supporters of team to t boo Rishabh Pant by chanting MS Dhoni's name since it is 'disrespectful' to legend as well as fact that young southpaw could end up getting demotivated. However, on Sunday, an under-pressure Pant played a mature kck to bring up his maiden ODI half-century. It made  crowd chant 22-year-old's name at Chepauk.

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Chennai crowd chant Rishabh Pant's name

India played West Indies in first ODI at Chennai, a venue which also happens to be home of franchise MS Dhoni captains in  IPL, Chennai Super Kings. Having been invited to bat first, Indian top-order collapsed as y lost Kohli (4), KL Rahul (6) and Rohit Sharma (36) early, but Rishabh Pant, who has been severely criticised in last few months for his aver performances both behind and in front of stumps, scored 71 runs to rebuild Indian innings. Pant stitched a 114-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer to help India build a respective total on a slow wicket. Delhi-based wicketkeeper-batsman smashed 7 fours and a six during his 69-ball stay to help hosts post a respectable score of 287 in 50 overs.

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Earlier, ahead of three-match T20I series, Kohli had said that team believed in Pant's ability and added that it was everyone's collective responsibility to give that player some to do well. Indian skipper went on to say that if Pant fluffed a chance, people must t shout Dhoni's name in stadium because it was disrespectful and  player would like that to happen. Kohli added that when playing in India, supporters should back ir own players rar than wait for a mistake a player would make, just to mock him. Meanwhile, India were thrashed in first ODI by 8 wickets on back of centuries by Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope. series w moves to Visakhapatnam where teams will battle it out in second ODI on Wednesday, December 18.

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