Funny how life comes at you fast. Rishabh Pant who was one of India’s biggest players and talking points during the start of the year has somehow lost all his form and his reputation as a T20 player by the time the year draws to a close. Rishabh Pant has been left out of India’s T20 & ODI squads for the upcoming T20 & ODI series against Sri Lanka with Sanju Samson finally getting a chance of showcasing his skills in the playing XI (Hopefully). Hardik Pandya on the contrary who started the year without even being India’s regular group of players will now end up as India’s captain. Funny how life can come for / against you sometimes.
He has had a dismal T20 World Cup, a bad IPL and everything and every match he played turned to stone – not gold. Even though he has been quiet for India in the longer format, he has had a very average year with the bat in the limited-overs format. Maybe that’s why he has been dropped or rested.
Maybe this rest will do him a world of good. A mental and physical break from the game for a little while is sometimes needed. We all know what a match-winner he is on his day. A break from Cricket worked wonders for Virat Kohli as well.
It will be very interesting to see how Rishabh Pant bounces back from this lean patch of form.
Rohit Sharma has been rested for the T20I Series as Hardik Pandya has been handed the captaincy role in T20Is.
Another very talked about aspect is the constant need for team India to drop some of their key players. Sometimes it’s rest, sometimes it’s the injury. But what remains constant is that the current Indian team does not have a fixed or settled core of players who know their roles. Maybe too much chopping and changing is causing that issue big time.
And it starts with the captain himself. There have been a lot of instances when Rohit Sharma has not been a part of the team for some or other reason. There has been a lot of talk about it in the media and there have been some who even say that the Indian team is not as fit as it used to be.
If Team India wants to win the 2023 World Cup which is happening in the country, maybe a few things need to change. And it starts with the fitness of all these players.
Indian Team For The Upcoming T20I & ODI Series Against Sri Lanka –
India squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.
India squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma(Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.
