look news india
The Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management will have an opportunity to decide who will be India's long-term leader between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting tomorrow, Friday. The series will also focus on captain Rohit Sharma and star batsman Virat Kohli, who will play for the first time after winning the T20 World Cup.
Big crisis against India before Colombo ODI
The Indian team management will focus on preparing the right team combination regardless of external discussions as there are some important ODI tournaments to be held this season including the Champions Trophy. In such a situation, the issue of KL Rahul vs Rishabh Pant will definitely be a priority.
The team has to solve this big issue
Before Rishabh Pant returned from injury, KL Rahul performed well as a wicketkeeper batsman. KL Rahul performed well in front of the wicket and behind the wicket. The previous team management led by Rahul Dravid expressed full confidence in him. But now that Rishabh Pant is back, it will be interesting to see whether Gautam Gambhir gives preference to this left-handed batsman or trusts Rahul like the previous team management.
The problem is with these two players
If Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma decide to keep these two batsmen in the playing eleven, then they will have to think about how to fit Shreyas Iyer, who is doing well in 50 over cricket, into the team. In this way, there is competition between Rahul, Pant and Iyer for two places in the Indian batting order. If India keeps these three in the team, then it will have to field with five bowlers.
Riyan Parag's hand up
India would not want to take such a risk as Hardik Pandya is not playing in this series due to personal reasons. India can choose either Shivam Dubey or Riyan Parag as the sixth batsman. Riyan Parag seems to have an upper hand in this, as he also played the bowling role in the recent T20 series against Sri Lanka. The Assam player also performed well in the domestic 50-over competition Deoghar Trophy.
Look at Rohit and Kohli
Dubey, who played one ODI five years ago, played only one match in the T20 series against Sri Lanka and he did not bowl that too. Apart from this, Gambhir will also keep an eye on the performance of Rohit and Kohli while preparing the team for the ODI World Cup to be held in 2017. Both the players have not played an ODI since the World Cup final against Australia last year and they will be keen to make a great comeback in the 50-over format.