Rishabh Pant's exclusion from the World Cup team came as a major surprise. The southpaw was tipped to be on the plane to England, but MSK Prasad's selection committee ultimately preferred the experienced Dinesh Karthik over the Delhi dasher.

Pant has long been touted as an understudy to Dhoni, whereas Karthik has been experimented for the No. 4 slot before being dropped to the lower order as the one to finish the game. "It was discussed among the selection committee that one of them [Pant or Karthik] will play in the XI, provided MS [Dhoni] is injured. In such a situation, in crunch matches, who is the best guy who can handle pressure? That is what went in favour of Karthik. Otherwise, Pant is full of talent, there is lot of time for him. It's unfortunate that he missed out," explained Prasad yesterday.