Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has picked his first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman for Team India for the upcoming five-match T20I series against England next month.
With Jharkhand’s left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan earned a maiden India call-up for the home T20I series against England, Pant returned to the shorter format of the game after a long gap.
Rahul was keeping wickets for the Indian cricket team in both ODI and T20I cricket, and doing a brilliant job, especially with the bat.
But now after an impressive show in Tests against Australia and England, Pant is making his case strong to be picked in India’s Playing XI in the forthcoming T20I series and Chopra also backed the Delhi-lad to play ahead of Rahul and explosive Ishan in the upcoming home series.
Chopra said in his YouTube channel: “Rishabh Pant has made a comeback and I think he will play. You should play him in T20s, let him keep wickets instead of KL Rahul. It’ll be good for the team.”
Ishan earned his maiden call-up in the India T20I side on the back of some consistent performances in the domestic circuit and the IPL and former cricketer lauded the youngster for his explosive hitting.
Chopra signed off by saying, “Ishan Kishan’s performance has been brilliant. He has been scoring runs consistently and if we talk about IPL 2020 then he overshadowed some of the big names of Mumbai Indians. Hit big sixes against some of the best like Anrich Nortje, Rabada and batted beautifully.”
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)
