With Rishabh Pant out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he recovers in a Mumbai hospital after suffering multiple injuries following an accident in December, the Indian team management has a big challenge to find an apt replacement for the wicketkeeper-batter. While there are plenty of options but not everyone has the skillset that made Pant a potent weapon in red-ball cricket with the bat as he can accelerate at will and provide a reliable counterattacking option.
While KS Bharat is Pant’s designated backup, the Indian team management gave Ishan Kishan a maiden Test call-up following his eye-catching display in white-ball cricket and former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin reckons he has a brighter chance of making the cut in playing XI.
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“Ishan Kishan has been selected in the Indian Test team on his recent form I think he will be a stronger contender for wicket-keeper batsman option. He is a left handed batsman,” Azhar was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Azhar also feels that India shouldn’t have benched Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan for the first two ODIs of the Sri Lanka series considering their form.
“When the player is in form, it’s not right to have them on the bench. Suryakumar Yadav has the potential to play for the Indian team in all three formats. He has also done well in his last Ranji match,” Azhar said.
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“As much as I have seen Suryakumar’s batting, I can say that like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, he too can also play in all three formats. After a long time, India has got such a batsman who can play in all formats. It is very difficult to make a place in the team and both these players will have to prove themselves, if they find a place in the team,” he added.
The Australia Test series gets underway from February 9 in Nagpur.
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