On Friday, the chief of the Indian selection committee, MSK Prasad has come in support of wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant’s call-up to the ODI squad for the five-match series against Australia, saying the team management wanted to try the southpaw in the remaining few international matches before taking a final call on the squad for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
Pant, who last played an ODI in October last year when India hosted the West Indies in a five-match series, was on Friday included at the cost of veteran Dinesh Karthik, who had a mixed tour of Australia and New Zealand in the limited over formats.
Pointing out the team management’s plans for the batting position of Pant, Prasad said: “We have included him (Pant) considering the fact that he is a left-hander and we are going to discuss with the team management. We will try and figure the best possible batting position for Pant. With a left-hander in the side, there is an advantage of the left-right combination. We want to give Pant a few ODIs before taking a final call on World Cup.”
ALSO READ: Sunil Gavaskar Expects Rishabh Pant To Succeed As An Opener
Prasad also hailed Vijay Shankar’s all-around abilities and said his decent outings in New Zealand was taken into consideration before including him in the squad against the Kangaroos.
The Indian chief selector said, “Shankar’s performance in the recent series really changed a few dynamics and he brings a double impact to the side that’s why we have included him. We’ll see how he performs in the next few matches.”
Siddarth Kaul was another notable inclusion in the side in place of left-arm fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed. Kaul was included for the two-match T20I series and the first two ODIs as well. Apart from him, the young leg-spinner, Mayank Markande was also included in the T20I squad.
ALSO READ: BCCI Announces Indian Squads For The Australia Series
Talking about them, Prasad said, “Siddarth Kaul has been doing very well in whatever opportunities he has been given and also at India A level. Khaleel has been playing for the last two series and we have seen him. We would like to see Siddarth Kaul also. We have shortlisted about 18 players and we are going to rotate among them. We are looking at Markande as a backup spinner. We have been grooming him through India A process and today also he picked up a five-wicket haul. So, we want to look at him and he’ll be a backup spinner.”
Markande has been going through a purple patch in domestic cricket in the past few months and on Friday his fifer helped India A tame the England Lions by an innings and 68 runs in the second unofficial Test.
The BCCI also condoled the deaths in the Pulwama terror attack on Thursday, where 49 CRPF troopers were killed.
Talking about them, acting BCCI Secretary Amitabh Choudhary said, “Our heartfelt condolences to the CRPF Jawans who lost their lives in the #PhulwamaTerrorAttack.”
