The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has to find apt replacements for Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. The star batters have been ruled out of the upcoming ODI series between India and South Africa due to injuries.
It seems like Rishabh Pant will come in for Gill. It was speculated that the wicketkeeper might be named captain on his ODI return, but KL Rahul’s likely to get the nod ahead of him and other candidates like Axar Patel.
Tilak Varma over Ruturaj Gaikwad in India’s ODI squad?
The last spot remains open. According to RevSportz, the BCCI is torn about who to choose between Tilak Varma and Ruturaj Gaikwad. The former seems to be the next in line. He was named India ‘A’ captain recently and led against South Africa ‘A’.
The series didn’t go that well for Tilak. He scored just 79 runs in 3 matches. Meanwhile, Gaikwad, who was also playing, scored 210 runs, including one hundred and fifty-one. Without a doubt, the latter had a better outing. Also, Gaikwad averages a mind-boggling 57.39 in List A cricket, which happens to be the third highest of all time.
But, as mentioned above, BCCI has Tilak ahead. While announcing the ODI squad for the Australia tour, Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar was asked about the omission of Tilak after his Asia Cup heroics.
The former India all-rounder had stated that Tilak couldn’t get in because others were ahead. “Tilak’s very close. Again, we have taken a 15-man squad,” Agarkar had said. This would suggest that the left-handed batter will find a spot now, as Gill and Shreyas are out with injury. This makes Gaikwad the dark horse.
Neither Tilak nor Gaikwad has played an ODI for India since December 2023. The former has played 4 matches, while the latter has played 6.
Probable India squad for South Africa ODIs
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (c & wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj
Exclusions from Australia ODIs: Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel
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