"It's difficult to choose between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant" - Rohit Sharma on Team India's wicketkeeping conundrum ahead of Sri Lanka ODIs
Team India ODI skipper Rohit Sharma has admitted that there is a serious selection headache between the two primary wicketkeeping options in the squad - KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. The Men in Blue might have a spot for only one of the two as Gautam Gambhir takes charge of the ODI side as well.
Pant last played an ODI in late 2022 during the tour of New Zealand. While he was away from the game due to an unfortunate car accident, the likes of Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, and Rahul kept wickets, with the latter eventually sealing the spot in the middle order.
Rahul has been in fine form in ODIs since recovering from the injury he sustained during the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL). He returned in the 2023 Asia Cup and prolonged his form well into the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Rohit Sharma revealed that the final call between Rahul and Pant will be made on the day of the contest itself.
"It's difficult to choose between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. Both are match-winners in their own way. But it's a happy problem and I want to have that kind of problems. We will decide tomorrow," Rohit Sharma said during the pre-match press conference (via RevSportzGlobal).
As far as the rest of the batting unit is concerned, there is no doubt as such, with returning players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer likely to slot back to their original spots in the order.
"We shouldn’t try to get into his personal life, whether he wants to smile more or not" - Rohit Sharma on Gautam Gambhir
The coach-captain partnership of Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir got off to a flying start as India defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in the recently concluded T20I series. The new head coach hopes to forge a similar dynamic with the other skipper Rohit Sharma.
Rohit spoke about the prospect of working closely with his former teammate in a different capacity.
"Gautam Gambhir has played a lot of cricket. He worked for franchises before coming to the Indian team. We played a bit of cricket together. Every new coaching set-up brings on something different," Rohit said in the same press conference (via Inside Sport).
"Gauti bhai is a very cheerful person in the dressing room. We shouldn’t try to get into his personal life, whether he wants to smile more or not. It’s going to be different with Gautam like it was different with Dravid and Ravi Shastri before him," he added
The first ODI between India and Sri Lanka will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday, August 2.