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India is suddenly facing an issue with wicketkeepers in the ODI squad. With Rishabh Pant out for a while, India has had to include KL Rahul as the keeper. With Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma doing well at the top, Ishan Kishan is unlikely to open. However, for the New Zealand ODI series, KL Rahul is not available. Hence, one of Ishan Kishan and KS Bharat must be a part of the playing XI. Here, we look at two players who could be sidelined to include a wicketkeeper in the XI for the ODIs against New Zealand.
1) Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer did not have a great outing against Sri Lanka. However, in recent times, he has been the best middle-order batter for India in ODIs.
That said, although he does not require rest, the management might sideline him to have Ishan Kishan at No.4. Since Iyer has sealed his spot in this position, it would be best to test the skills of the other aspirants in this format. Hence, Iyer is on this list.
2) Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav is one of the players who could be sidelined to include a wicketkeeper in the XI for the ODIs against New Zealand. Interestingly, despite his excellent form in T20Is, SKY was not given a place in the Indian ODI XI for the first two games.
There are doubts if SKY can also repeat his T20 form in ODIs. For that, he needs to be given game time. In KL Rahul’s absence, this is the best chance for India to try out SKY at No.5. If he does well, it would be a happy headache for Rahul Dravid and co. after KL Rahul returns to the squad. From SKY’s perspective, it will be important that he makes the maximum use of the chances he gets. This might even have a bearing on his Test debut after having been selected for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India’s squad for NZ ODIs:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran MalikAdvertisement— BCCI (@BCCI) January 13, 2023