When discussing India’s wicketkeeper dilemma during the ODI World Cup year, Indian head coach Rahul Dravid gave a special mention to legendary cricketer MS Dhoni. During a press conference prior to the 3rd ODI against New Zealand.
Ishan Kishan has replaced the tried-and-true KL Rahul, who was unable to participate in the New Zealand series due to personal reasons. In India’s World Cup-year absence of injured glovesman Rishabh Pant.
In the Sri Lanka series, the first-choice keeper was the former Indian vice-captain, Rahul. While Kishan returned to the lineup for the three One Day Internationals (ODIs) against New Zealand.
After Rahul and Shreyas Iyer were ruled out of the New Zealand series. Skipper Rohit branded Kishan as an automatic starter for the Sri Lanka ODIs.
The head coach was asked on Monday during the pre-match press conference before the third one-day international against the Black Caps if Team India is looking for a wicketkeeper-batsman similar to Dravid in preparation for the 2023 World Cup.
In the early 2000s, a specialist batter like Dravid became India’s full-time wicketkeeper to accommodate talented youngsters like Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, and Virender Sehwag.
Dravid, a famous batsman, was the wicketkeeper for Team India at the 2003 World Cup, which was led by Sourav Ganguly.
The Indian head coach addressed the reporter’s inquiry and paid tribute to MS Dhoni, the legendary wicketkeeper and batsman, before praising the current crop of wicketkeepers.
After the arrival of Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, and Parthiv Patel, batting legend Dravid was relieved of his wicketkeeping duties during his playing days.
We are, without a doubt, always looking for a wicketkeeper and batsman. In white-ball cricket, I believe MS Dhoni has replaced specialist wicketkeepers, which is unfortunate.
We are fortunate in that all of the players in contention, including this team’s Ishan Kishan and KS Bharat, are both talented batsmen who have performed well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Ishan has clearly done well as a batsman, though Bharat has not played,” Dravid told reporters prior to the third one-day international against New Zealand.
Kishan, is keeping wickets for India when Rahul is not there. Was also added to the Test team for the first two matches of the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
After a remarkable run in limited-overs formats, Kishan received his first Test call-up. When he scored a sensational double-century against Bangladesh in the third One-Day International in December of last year. The explosive Indian opener shocked the cricket community.
Srikar Bharat, who is also in the Australia series Test squad, will compete against Kishan. The same pair is also in the ODI team for the current series against New Zealand.
Jitesh Sharma is then included in the mix. In the Sri Lanka T20Is, the Vidarbha wicketkeeper-batsman received his first call-up.
The wicketkeeper-batsman for the Punjab Kings had taken Sanju Samson’s place. After he was ruled out of the T20I series with a knee injury.
“There is Rahul there, Samson is there, but unfortunately, Rishabh is injured,” says Jitesh. Who has retained his spot in the Indian T20I team for the three-match series against New Zealand?
These guys are all batsmen and wicketkeepers. I think you need to be a batsman and a wicketkeeper today.
You ought to be able to bat and make a significant contribution. We also added Jitesh Sharma to the T20 mix because of the speed at which he bats and scores runs. As he has demonstrated in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy and IPL matches he has played.
Therefore, it is now accepted that all teams require a wicketkeeper-batsman,” Dravid continued.
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