Disrespect towards Virat Kohli: Fans upset with Rishabh Pant's promotion in Kanpur

A certain section of fans was upset with Rishabh Pant's promotion to No. 4 position over Virat Kohli during the Day 4 of the 2nd Test between India and Bangladesh.

In Short

• Rishabh Pant walked out to bat at No. 4 instead of Virat Kohli
• Kohli was padded up with helmet on but was asked to wait
• This was only the 26th time that Kohli batted at No. 5 in Tests

In a surprising move, Rishabh Pant was promoted at the No. 4 position over Virat Kohli during Day 4 of the 1st Test between India and Bangladesh at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. A certain section of fans was left shocked when they saw Pant walking out to bat after Yashasvi Jasiwal got out. Kohli was all padded up with his helmet but was asked to wait. They called this move disrespect towards Virat Kohli, who has been India's No. 4 batter for a decade now.

The decision could have been made to keep the right and left-handed combination with Shubman Gill on the crease. Gill was earlier batting with Yashasvi Jaiswal and the right and left-handed combination shared a 72-run stand from just 63 balls, dominating the Bangladesh bowlers. The decision to send Pant over Kohli could have been to maintain the momentum, but didn't go down well with a certain section of fans. Interestingly, this was only the 26th time in Kohli's illustrious Test career that he walked out to bat in 5th position.

Here is how the fans reacted on X

After bundling out Bangladesh for 233, India started off on a ballistic note with a 55-run stand between openers Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma within first four overs. This was India's highest power-play total across the formats. After two days resulted in no game due to rain and wet outfield, India wasted no time to get going.