Not many surprising picks are going to happen when the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee meets newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir to decide India’s ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour. There will be hardly any issues in selection as has been the case in T20Is to select the captain between Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya.
The three veteran players- Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja, who have taken their retirements from the shortest format of the game after winning the T20 World Cup last month, are set to be back in the ODI side, with the Nagpur-born is expected to lead the side.
There were reports that the two-times T20 World Cup champion, Rohit was thinking of taking a break from the tour, but later changed his mind, after being approached by Gambhir.
India to leave this wicket-keeper batter from ODIs in Sri Lanka
Most of the players, who were involved in the ODI World Cup squad last year are expected to make a return for the Sri Lanka series, except the Jharkhand wicket-keeper batter, Ishan Kishan, who is set to be replaced by Rishabh Pant, who wasn’t available for the tournament due to his injury.
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Kishan was part of the Indian squad in all three formats till last year before he was avoided for selection once he decided to make a return from the middle of the South Africa tour earlier this year, citing personal reasons.
Reports claim that then head-coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit wasn’t very satisfied with this move, besides which Kishan ignored the BCCI instructions to feature in domestic cricket to prove his fitness level. Later, the wicket-keeper was dropped from the central contract too.
‘I was scoring runs and then I found myself on the bench. These things do happen in a team sport. However, I experienced travel fatigue. It meant there was something wrong, I was not feeling well or right and so I decided to take a break.’ Ishan Kishan noted to ‘The Indian Express’. ‘However, sadly, barring my family and a few close people no one understood that.’
When he was asked about the BCCI’s rule of playing domestic cricket in terms of being considered for a comeback, the 26-year-old has shown respect towards it.
‘There is no such learning. It’s a written rule that to make your comeback after a break, you have to play domestic cricket to prove your fitness. I just want to keep my head down and continue working on my game.’ The left-handed batter observed.
The young dynamic batter went on to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Mumbai Indians, as he has smashed 933 runs in 24 ODI innings, at an average of 42.40 and a strike rate of 102.19, with seven fifties and the famous 210-run knock.
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Shreyas Iyer, who also went on to lose his central contract because of missing domestic cricket, is expected to make a return to the ODI team. He led the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their third title in the league, besides sharing a partnership with mentor Gautam Gambhir.
Another player is KL Rahul, who is expected to make a return to the ODI team, after missing the T20 World Cup and Test matches against England at the start of this year. It will be interesting to see if he remains the first-choice keeper, with the return of Rishabh Pant in full fitness.