After Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the second ODI match of the ongoing home series against Australia due to a concussion injury, India has called up the Andhra player KS Bharat as the back up of KL Rahul. This is the second time that Bharat has been called as the back up in the Indian national cricket team.
In the first ODI match, Rishabh Pant, on the short ball of Pat Cummins, got the top edge and the ball deflected to the helmet, presenting a dolly to backward point where Ashton Turner was standing. Pant was diagnosed with a concussion as the ball hit the helmet which led to his ouster from the rest of the game.
Thus, the wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul, who has the experience of wicketkeeping in the domestic circuit, had to keep in the Mumbai game. Currently, Rishabh Pant is in NCA and is likely to return in the third ODI which is in Bangalore.
For the second ODI, KS Bharat will join as the back-up of KL Rahul. Earlier, during the first pink-ball game against Bangladesh, the team management called him as a backup to Wriddhiman Saha as Rishabh Pant – along with Shubman Gill – was released to play domestic cricket.
Pant’s absence in the batting order might give a chance to Manish Pandey or Kedar Jadhav. Pandey has played impressive innings against Sri Lanka in the Pune T20I where he led the team to the finishing point. While Kedar Jadhav also has a good experience to tackle the tough situation. The allrounder Shivam Dube is also the option, but India is not looking for him in the 50-over format.
Meanwhile, after facing a drastic defeat in the Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai) by ten wickets, India will head to play the second ODI match in Rajkot today (17th January). It is a must-win game for India to retain themselves in the rave of this three-match ODI series.