The Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management has a chance to decide who among KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant will be India’s long-term No. 1 wicketkeeper-batsman in ODIs when they face Sri Lanka in the three-match series starting on Friday. There will be a buzz about veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli making their maiden appearances after their recent T20 World Cup triumph. However, the think tank will block out outside noise and focus on sorting out the combination in a season that features several key one-day events, including the Champions Trophy.
In that context, the Rahul-Pant conundrum will inevitably be addressed first in this series.
Rahul is the current wicketkeeper-batsman and has been in charge of the side since Rahul Dravid took over after the Asia Cup last year. He returned to the tournament after a long absence due to injury.
Since then, Rahul has been faithful to his duties both in front of the wicket and behind it.
Since last year’s continental showpiece, Rahul has scored 834 runs in 21 matches at a respectable average of 69.50, including two hundreds. Rahul also captained India in the ODI series against South Africa earlier this year. The 32-year-old has been quite good as a stumper too.
But will Gambhir follow the same path now that Pant is back on the bench? While it was heartwarming to see Pant return to India after his horrific 2022 T20Is, he has failed to set the field on fire with his outings.
There have been encouraging flashes over the past month. But will that be enough to convince the powers that be to pick him over Rahul? If Gambhir and captain Rohit decide to keep both Rahul and Pant in the No. 11, they will have to figure out how to accommodate another strong player in the 50-over version, Shreyas Iyer.
Iyer scored 52 in the last ODI against South Africa in Johannesburg and his 2023 tally is impressive, with 846 runs from 20 matches at an average of 53 and three hundreds.
So, if India were to field all three players, they would need to field five bowlers, which would likely see Rahul, Pant and Iyer competing for two batsman spots.
India may not want to take such a strict route, especially with Hardik Pandya unable to take part in the series due to personal reasons.
So India might want to challenge Shivam Duvena and Riyan Parag at number six.
However, the management’s decision to hand Parag the bowling duties in the just-concluded T20Is could be a sign that he will be given a bigger role in the ODI series.
Parag’s ability to switch effectively between off-spin and leg-spin has increased his chances, but he has not been able to show much in the IPL due to the Impact Player rule.
However, the Assam player has had some notable performances in the domestic 50-over tournament, the Deodar Trophy.
He took 11 wickets last season, ranking sixth behind Vidwath Kaverappa (13), Shams Mulani (12), Mayank Yadav (12), Shahbaz Ahmed (12) and R Sai Kishore (11) and had a good economy rate of 4.8.
In contrast, Dube, who played in ODIs five years ago, played just one game in the series against Sri Lanka and was not called up to bowl.
Amidst all this, Gambhir will also keep an eye on the outings of Rohit and Kohli, saying they will play an important role going forward.
This will be the first ODI for the pair since their crushing defeat to Australia in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad last year and they will be looking to mark their return to the 50-over format with a special fixture.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka, with a mix of young and experienced players, will be looking to avoid the batting collapse that once saw them dominate but ended up collapsing in the T20I series.
However, they will be without pacers Matesha Pathirana and Dilshan Madhushankar, who are ruled out of the series due to injuries.
team:
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Hubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
Sri Lanka: Charith Asalanka (C), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Nishan Madushka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Akila Dananjaya, Ehsan Malinga, Mohammed Shiraz, Asitha Fernando. . Standby: Kusal Janith, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay.
The match will start at 2:30 PM (IST).
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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