SL vs IND 2021: Ishan Kishan or Sanju Samson? Sanjay Manjrekar picks his wicketkeeper for the Sri Lanka series
Sanjay Manjrekar has opined that India should back Ishan Kishan as the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter ahead of Sanju Samson in the upcoming limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.
Team India has picked a large contingent of 20 players for their six limited-overs games against Sri Lanka starting on July 13. With two exciting wicketkeeper-batters in India's arsenal, it will be interesting to see who will get the nod to feature in the XI.
Sanjay Manjrekar feels Ishan Kishan should be backed because of his batting consistency. The former India international called out Sanju Samson for his variable performance over the years.
"Ishan Kishan is my keep’s choice, purely on basis of batting. Keeping is not that important in limited-overs cricket. There is no match to Smason when he gets going, but what we are looking at is consistency, and Kishan picks himself ahead of Samson on that ground."
Sanju Samson was overlooked for India's last limited-overs series against England at home, while Ishan Kishan impressed in his debut T20I innings by scoring a quickfire 56 off 32 balls against the same opponents.
With both posessing top-class batting ability, Team India can even opt to play the duo together against Sri Lanka.
VVS Laxman picks Sanju Samson over Ishan Kishan
Contrary to Sanjay Manjrekar's view, VVS Laxman has picked Sanju Samson as India's first-choice wicketkeeper-batter for the Sri Lanka series. The series begins on July 13 with an ODI contest, and Laxman opined that Sanju Samson should make his 50-over debut.
The former India batter also wants to see the pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal back together. The wrist-spin duo has had some tough times in international cricket over the past few series.
Laxman went in with Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the fast bowling department and picked both the Pandya brothers as the two all-rounders in the side.
VVS Laxman's India XI for ODI series against Sri Lanka: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal