Five Indian players who should be considered for the ODI and T20I series against Australia
The Indian cricket team will be high on confidence after beating Sri Lanka in every single match of their recent tour. Tougher challenges await the Men in Blue as they host 20 limited-overs matches in the next three months starting with a five-match ODI and a three-match T20I series against Australia.
Chief selector MSK Prasad has conceded that there are few players who are in contention for a place in the Indian squad for the 2019 World Cup. Taking this into consideration, we could expect a few changes in the squad to face the Aussies.
It will be interesting to see who are all rested for the series and who all get a chance to prove themselves at number 4. Let us take a look at the players who should be considered for the series.
NOTE: This list does not feature the players who played in the India-Sri Lanka series.
Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant had a brilliant 2016-17 Indian domestic season and continued his good form in the Indian Premier League that put him in contention for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Unfortunately, he wasn't picked for the tournament but found a place for himself for the tour of West Indies where he played just the one-off T20I after warming the bench throughout the ODI series.
One would have thought that he will be picked for the Sri Lanka series but he didn't find a place for himself in both the ODI and T20I squad. The chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said, "Rishabh Pant is one of the players to watch out for. He didn't have a great South Africa tour. We are looking to give him more chances in the T20 format. Just like Hardik Pandya, we will start with the T20 format and then figure out Pant's progress."
Pant is not yet ready to set the stage on fire in ODIs, but in T20Is, he is more than handy with the bat. The selectors should take a bold call and pick the left-hander in the squad to face Australia in the three-match T20I series at least.