The Indian cricket team has certainly made its fans proud by winning the first T20I against New Zealand after chasing a huge total of 204 runs. The first match was played at Eden Park, Auckland, which is New Zealand’s largest sports stadium.
Batting first, New Zealand batted pretty well and put a huge total of 204 runs on the board. India’s start was not good as Rohit Sharma got out early but KL Rahul (56) and Virat Kohli (45) not only handled the situation well but also scored runs at good pace in order to keep the run rate in check. Shreyas Iyer (58) came at number 4 and ensured that India won the match.
KL Rahul has been in superb form and what makes him more precious for the team is the fact that he is also keeping the wickets which provides the team management with an option to include one more batsman to bring balance and stability in the team. KL Rahul is not new to wicket-keeping; in IPL, he does wicket-keeping for his team Kings XI Punjab and in domestic circuits, he does the same for his home team Karnataka.
However, earlier Rishabh Pant used to keep the wickets for India but he suffered concussion in the last series and then Rahul was asked to don the gloves. Considering the fact that Rahul is doing a good job not just as a batsman but as a wicket-keeper as well, chances of Rishabh Pant of making in the team for T20 World Cup seems bleak.
After the match in the press conference, KL Rahul was asked about the comeback of Rishabh Pant in the team to which he replied that it is not up to him.
Here is the video:
KL Rahul is not sure what to make of this question 🤨 #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/UpSVHUTpb8
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 24, 2020
Click to watch this video directly on Twitter
What he said is absolutely true as it is with the team management to decide whether to bring Rishabh Pant back or not but it seems that the team management and skipper are quite happy with the present composition and as KL Rahul is pretty fine with wicket-keeping, there is no point in bringing Pant back.
Rishabh Pant has already got many chances and has failed in making an impact both with the bats and gloves. Many cricket fans feel that even if the team management wants to include a specialist wicket-keeper in the squad, Sanju Samson should be given a chance now.
What do you have to say about it? Let us know.