Former Indian chief selector Sandeep Patil has agreed to the suggestion to the former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri of having young Tilak Varma or Suryakumar Yadav in the India squad for the World Cup rather than having a backup wicket-keeping option in the team.
With Rishabh Pant being ruled of ODI World Cup and uncertainty over KL Rahul’s availability for the World Cup, Team India had two wicket-keepers in the squad for the West Indies tour of which Ishan Kishan has almost sealed his place in the team with a series-winning performance against the Men in Maroon.
Speaking on the Star Sports show selection day, Ravi Shastri suggested having Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav on India’s 15-men squad in case of the unavailability of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul in the team to which former chief selector of India Sandeep Patil agreed of having them in the squad and feels that they are no need of backup keeper in the team with Ishan Kishan taking up the role of gloveman in the team.
“100 percent [if India should hand a debut to Tilak Varma?]. I will go with Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav. Who will be in the playing XI, can be decided after looking at the opposition.”
“I don’t think a backup keeper is necessary because the tournament will be at home. And if something happens to Ishan Kishan, fingers crossed, then we can get Sanju Samson overnight to any place,” Sandeep Patil said.
It would be an interesting move by the Indian team management to include Tilak Varma for the Asia Cup 2023, as the team has got only Asia Cup and Australia series to finalize the squad for the ODI World Cup in India.
Ishan Kishan was the best batter for the Indian team in the West Indies ODI series scoring three consecutive half-centuries for the team. He is likely to be part of the India squad for the Asia Cup 2023.
Moreover, it will be interesting to see whether he is given opportunity to open the batting for the team as Rohit Sharma is likely to open the batting alongside Shubman Gill while Sanju Samson has done decent job finishing the matches for India in the 50-over format.