On the eve of the first ODI against Sri Lanka, India skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed that Ishan Kishan will have to warm the bench despite slamming a double century in his last 50-over appearance.
Addressing a press conference, Rohit made it clear that Shubman Gill will get a long run, citing that the latter was consistent with his ODI performances last year.
Rohit’s decision, however, divided opinions among the fans and cricket experts, including former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad.
Taking to Twitter, Prasad posted a series of tweets, slamming the decision to leave out Kishan. He also highlighted how such constant chopping and changing has affected India's performance in white-ball cricket lately.
"Think fair would have been to give chance to a man who scored a double hundred in India's last ODI, and in a series where India lost two games and the series. Have all the time in the world for Gill, but no way you drop a player for scoring a double ton. And if one is convinced to play Gill , then can have him bat at 3 and let Ishan keep wickets instead of KL Rahul," Prasad wrote.
"There is a reason we have underperformed in Limited overs cricket. Constant chopping changing and a guy who does brilliantly and is an X factor is dropped and mediocrity retained.
"In Eng, Pant scored a hundred in the final ODI and helped India win the series. However, based on T20 form was dropped from ODI team. KL Rahul on the other hand barring a couple of innings has failed consistently but retains his place.Performance is not the foremost parameter. Sad," he further added.
Explaining the decision to pick Gill as his opening partner over Kishan, Rohit said they need to give the former a 'fair run'.
In 2022, Shubman Gill batted in 12 ODI innings, scoring 638 runs at an average of 70.88 and a strike rate of 102.57. He was also the Player of the Series on the tour of West Indies and Zimbabwe.
"Both openers (Gill and Kishan) have done really well. But looking at how both have gone through, I think it is fair that we give Gill a chance to have a fair run because in the last games Gill got a lot of runs as well," Rohit told reporters on Monday (January 9).
"I am not going to take anything from Ishan. He has been wonderful for us. He got a double hundred and I know what it takes to get a double hundred, it is a great achievement. But just to be honest and be fair to the guys who have done really well before that we need to give those guys enough chances as well," he added.
"It is unfortunate that we won't be able to play Ishan but looking at how things have panned out for us in the last 8-9 months, looking at how the ODIs have gone through for us, it is fair to give Gill that run and he has done extremely well in that position. We will definitely try out and keep Ishan in the mix and see how things pan out for us as we play lot of games ahead," the India captain further remarked.
