Former India opener Gautam Gambhir feels KL Rahul has secured the wicket-keeper/batter spot going into the World Cup with his recent performances in the role.
Gambhir on India’s wicket-keeper dynamics
After a dominant ton against Pakistan and a fighting 39 against Sri Lanka, KL Rahul is now certainly the favourite for the highly contested keeping gloves for Team India. His keeping itself has also been solid and Gambhir feels the spot it now Rahul’s to lose.
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“I think the team management has made it very close that it's going to be KL Rahul who would be keeping in the World Cup because there was Ishan Kishan (in the playing XI).
If Kishan was in the scheme of things of playing on the 11th against Australia, then he would have kept wickets for India because he was the main wicket-keeper, but now in the last two games, KL Rahul has kept wickets.” the LSG coach said on Star Sports.
Who bats at no.5 in the World Cup then?
If KL is to bat at no. and dawn the gloves, that opens up the no.5 slot even though Kishan looked to have nailed it with four fifties in a row and as a left-handed batter. While there is no argument against him playing as a specialist batter, Gambhir feels there are more options.
“So the number five position is now open,” Gambhir continued. “Whether Shreyas Iyer comes into it, whether they play Suryakumar at seven and Hardik at five or Jadeja at five, now KL Rahul has secured that number four spot as a wicketkeeper-batsman,” claimed the 41-year-old.
