Former Indian legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has given his take on India's probable T20 World Cup 2022 squad and believes that fielding four wicketkeepers are not that bad an idea.
With Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, and Ishan Kishan as the top three keeper batters in the competition for India, Gavaskar believes KL Rahul should be kept as a back-up for the post.
Gavaskar believes that having three reserve keepers on hand would be good because travelling to Australia takes a long time and it is always a plus to have options ready in case a critical situation takes place.
Ishan Kishan, according to the former Indian captain, might be considered as a reserve opener with Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul, being the preferred batters to open the batting for India.
Talking to Sports Today about the same, Gavaskar said, "I think there will certainly be a consideration. You want somebody who opens the batting as a reserve opener. Also, don’t forget that we are playing in Australia where travel and getting to is not easy."
“So, for you to have two spare wicketkeepers apart from Rishabh Pant is a huge plus. In fact, three… one I hope will be Dinesh Karthik, other is KL Rahul and then Ishan Kishan," said Gavaskar.
Gavaskar put forth a recent example of how having a reserve wicketkeeper batter can benefit a team. In the second T20I of the ongoing series against India, South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen came in for Quinton de Kock, who was out due to a wrist injury and played an impressive knock of 81 to help his side win.
As far as Ishan Kishan is concerned, Gavaskar believes the youngster, who has scored 76, 34, and 54 in three matches so far, might be a strong contender for a spot in India's World Cup squad if he maintains his present form.
"To have these wicketkeepers available would be tremendous. Just see what happened with Quinton de Kock? South Africa had Heinrich Klassen available and he won them the match in Cuttack. In Australia, it will not be easy for a player to reach, so in that case, I would imagine that Ishan Kishan certainly would be in the fray. If he continues batting like this, then he will certainly make a big claim to be on that World Cup flight to Australia," pointed out the legendary opener.
(Sports Today inputs)
