Anubhav Katheria
Rohit Sharma in his recent pre-match press conference on Thursday, said that he is undecided on whom he will choose as the wicket keeper in the team.
India is set to face Sri Lanka in the 1st ODI (out of 3 ) on Friday 2 August, after whitewashing the T20I series against SL with 3-0, Gautam Gambhir will look to do the same in the ODI as well. Gambhir has taken charge of the ODI side from his assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, who was overseeing the net sessions of the ODI squad while Gambhir was busy in the 3rd T20. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Harshit Rana reached Sri Lanka on Monday morning and started their practice right on.
Rishabh Pant will play the ODI after 1 year, he was away from the Indian ODI squad due to an unfortunate car accident in 2023. While KL Rahul last played ODI in December 2023, KL is making his return to the Indian team after he was left out from the T20I WC 2024.
Rohit Sharma on KL and Pant
On being asked who the team will choose as the wicket keeper between KL and Rishabh Pant, Rohit said that it’s a tough call to choose between KL and Rishabh, they both are match winners, but it’s always nice to have multiple quality options to pick from the squad.
While KL and Rishabh both are match winners for India and provide experience and strength to the middle order, the Gautam Gambhir side won’t want two wicket keepers fielding.
KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant vs SL
KL Rahul has played 9 innings against SL where he has scored 309 runs with an average of 38.62, his highest score has been 111 runs which came in Sri Lankan soil, he has 1 century and 1 half century against them.
Rishabh Pant has only played 1 match against SL which was in 2019 where he scored 4 runs.
KL has more experience and calm in his batting and keeping on the other hand the youngster Rishabh Pant might not get a chance to play in the first ODI since KL is the first choice of the Indian team but in the later matches Rishabh will surely get to play in the 11 but since Rishabh hasn’t played much against SL so Gambhir might will try Rishabh Pant first.
