Since MS Dhoni was a beginner, Indian cricket has been blessed with an array of gifted ball strikers, who can also keep wickets efficiently. Where Pant scores over others is his ability to take down spin and his left-handedness. His fitness in a high intensity format after a long injury layoff remains the only question.
While his T20 numbers aren’t great, there is little doubt about whether Rohit and Dravid will want him in the squad or not if he is fit.
India may need to travel with two wicket-keeper batters in the squad of 15 and carry another one as a traveling reserve because of the difficulty in getting players across quickly if there is an unfortunate injury or illness to any of the team members.
Hence Jitesh Sharma, Sanju Samson, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan will all have their hopes high of getting on the plane to the US.
The thing going for Jitesh is that he is performing the same role for his franchise, the Punjab Kings, that India have earmarked for him, that of a finisher, who can attack in the end overs at No.6.
With Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul effectively being top-order players, who target the powerplay overs, it might make it tough for them to break into the top four of the Indian team as it has gun players like Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal , Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav batting in those slots.
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Will Kishan, Sanju and Rahul take the option of batting lower in the batting order and hurt their franchise’s chances in the IPL and audition for a slot in the Indian team? If they do, the franchise owners will sport a long face.
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Tags: IPL Rishabh Pants success CSK adds Indias wicketkeeping options T20 World Cup Cricket News
