World Cup 2019: 3 reasons why India should play Rishabh Pant against Afghanistan

2. The curious case of Kedar Jadhav

Kedar Jadhav is the only player Rishabh Pant can possibly replace as of now

Kedar Jadhav has proved his ability as a reliable middle order batsman and a useful bowler in the last nine months. His partnerships with MS Dhoni in the matches against Australia earlier this year reasserted his maturity and level-headedness. He is a handful with the ball as well, but does he really have a role to play at this point in the tournament?

While the top five (including MS Dhoni) are taking care of building solid partnerships, the specialist bowlers are fulfilling the dual role of taking wickets and drying up the runs. Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar are filling in for the fifth bowler's overs, and took two wickets each during India's comprehensive victory against Pakistan.

If India find spin-friendly conditions, Kuldeep and Chahal are likely to take five-six wickets in the 20 overs between them. If the conditions assist a bit of swing, Pandya and Shankar could provide great support to Bumrah and Shami. Jadhav has not had a great year so far with the ball, and he is not particularly a power hitter.

If Pant replaces Jadhav in the playing XI, he would be assigned the role of a pinch hitter or a finisher - jobs tailor made for him. In fact, if other batsmen manage a healthy strike rate, Pant's presence can help the team to huge scores such as 400 and above.