Rohit Sharma replies wittily on Rishabh Pant's batting at number 4

When a reporter asked him whether he was surprised to see Pant at number four instead of in form Hardik Pandya against England on Sunday, Rohit said: "Not really because you all guys (media) wanted Rishabh Pant to play. Right from India, you were saying where is Rishabh Pant?. There he is at number four (smiles)."

On a serious note, Rohit, who scored his third World Cup 2019 century on Sunday, said: "Rishabh needs some time to spend and see what the pitch is doing, get used to the condition as quickly as possible so I think it was the right move for him to come at that number because we know what he can do with the bat. He just needs confidence. Obviously expecting a lot from him on his first match is not right but he should just come and enjoy his cricket. He does well when he enjoys."

Pant, who was flown to England to replace injured Shikhar Dhawan, scored 32 off 29 balls in his maiden World Cup match. Known for his hard hitting, Pant hit four boundaries during India's run chase against England.

When Vijay Shankar batted at number four in India's last match against Windies and was dismissed cheaply, Twitterati went after the selectors criticising them for not including south-paw Pant in the playing XI.

Despite Rohit's 102, skipper Virat Kohli's 66 and Pandya's quick 45, India were never into the run chase against England which had piled 337 runs for loss of seven wickets on the scoreboard batting first after winning the toss amid a huge crowd supporting the visitors.

Unable to score much in the first ten overs and failing to accelerate in the slogs overs, India, despite having five wickets intact, could score 306 falling short of 31 runs to remain unbeaten in the tournament.