Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has named his first-choice wicketkeeper for India, as KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan are expecting to fight it out for a place in the playing XI ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
Gambhir picked Kishan ahead of Rahul saying that a player who is in better form should be picked. With Rahul suffering a niggle that kept him out of the first two Group games of Asia Cup 2023, Kishan used the opportunity to give another ‘headache’ to Rohit Sharma as Ishan smashed 82 runs against Pakistan in the opening clash.
Sanju Samson failed to make the cut in India’s final 15-member squad, even though Rahul has been injured for the past couple of months, his past record and impressive stats at number 5, earned the Karnataka batter a place in the World Cup team.
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Despite being the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants, the IPL side led by Rahul where Gambhir has spent ample time with the wicketkeeper batter, the cricketer turned politician backed Kishan over Rahul given his recent strides in international cricket.
Gambhir also cited the examples of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to explain his logic.
“Tell me something, what is more important to win a championship — name or form? If Rohit (Sharma) or Virat (Kohli) had scored something similar (four consecutive fifties), would you still say that KL Rahul would replace them?,” said Gambhir on Star Sports after the announcement of India’s squad on September 5.
“The point is, when you’re gearing up to win the World Cup, you don’t see the name, you judge by their form. You choose the player who can perform and win you the World Cup,” Gambhir added.
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The cricketer-turned-commentator stated that even though Kishan hasn’t played as much international cricket as Rahul, he deserved to be the front-runner when it comes to wicketkeeping choice for India.
“Just because he is Ishan Kishan and hasn’t played a lot of international cricket, you’re saying that KL Rahul should play before him,” said Gambhir.
He added, “But if Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma were in place of Ishan Kishan, would KL Rahul be able to replace them? The answer is ‘no’.”
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Kishan’s best performances have come while opening and playing him would force India to make a change in the top order that is already sorted. Rahul on the other hand already has pretty impressive stats at number 5 which would give India a better ‘balance’ in Rohit’s own words.
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