No Jadeja; Pant, KL Rahul in Cup mix
AUSSIE SERIES Pant preferred over Karthik; Shankar, Hardik seam-bowling all-rounders in the one-day squad
MUMBAI: Rishabh Pant seemed to have all but edged out Dinesh Karthik for the second wicketkeeper’s slot at the World Cup with the squad for the five onedayers against Australia announced on Friday suggesting the national selectors and team management are settled on their choices for the mega event.
The MSK Prasad-led committee, which announced the squad for the two T20s and five ODIs starting on February 24, also recalled KL Rahul for the longer format.
Rahul last played an ODI in the Asia Cup last September. Although he struggled in the Australia Test series opening the batting, he was in the limitedovers squad, only to be dropped in the wake of the controversial chat show involving him and allrounder Hardik Pandya.
SHANKAR RETAINED
The selectors retained allrounder Vijay Shankar in the T20 and ODI sides and included Punjab leg-spinner Mayank Markande, who took five wickets on Friday to bowl India A to victory over England Lions in the four-day unofficial Test in Mysore. Markande gets a chance with Kuldeep Yadav rested for the T20s.
With the team management banking on wrist spin for the World Cup, Ravindra Jadeja was not picked despite his big-hitting ability and being India’s best fielder.
Virat Kohli returns after a short break and will lead the side in both formats. Prasad dismissed talk of resting key players, saying that with the Australia series the final set of matches before the World Cup – starts on May 30 -- his committee chose the strongest line-up.
Kohli played in the first two ODIs in New Zealand before being rested for the next two ODIs and the three T20s. Bumrah was rested once the Test series in Australia ended, having shouldered a heavy workload.
Prasad said Pant may also be considered for the top order. Coach Ravi Shastri recently said Kohli could move to No 4 if conditions require that to add steel to the middle-order.
“We have included Pant considering many factors like he is a left-hander and we need to discuss with the team management, which also we have done. Virat was also part of the meeting; we will try to figure out the best possible batting position.
“Being a left-hander, there is an advantage of playing leftright combination, we are discussing all that,” Prasad told reporters.
“We’ve short-listed 18 players and we are going to rotate them.”
With the selectors facing criticism for fielding three wicketkeepers in New Zealand, it seems to have become a shootout between Pant and Karthik for the Cup squad.
While Karthik was given opportunities in Australia and New Zealand, Pant, whose only three ODIs came against West Indies at home last year, gets his chance in the coming series.
“Prior to this, we had two series in New Zealand and Australia and that’s where Karthik was chosen. Because Rishabh played four Tests, we wanted him to get a good break.
“He had a 20-day break and then played a couple of one-day games against England Lions where he did well. Then we send him to the T20 matches (in NZ). We want to give him a few ODIs before taking a final call (for World Cup).”
Vijay Shankar is retained after good performances in New Zealand, which will keep first choice all-rounder Hardik Pandya on his toes. Shankar hit 45 in the only ODI where he batted and batted well in the T20s too.
KAUL GETS TWO ODIS
Pacer Siddarth Kaul has been included for the first two ODIs and will be replaced by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the last three games.
Spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, rested after the Australia Tests, has been included for all the seven matches of the series.
BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary said BCCI is in discussion with IPL franchises regarding the workload management of players ahead of the World Cup.
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We’ve included Pant considering factors like he is a left-hander and we need to discuss with the team management, which also we have done. We will figure out the best possible batting position. MSK PRASAD, chief selector