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'India will stick with Rahul in ODI World Cup': Ponting snubs Samson, names Pant's replacement
Pant's absence means India won't have an extra left-handed option in the middle-order. Ponting believes Ishan Kishan should get the preference over Samson.
Rishabh Pant's injury has thrown up hard questions to the Indian selectors ahead of the ODI World Cup at home. The attacking left-hander was set to be a sure-shot in India's World Cup squad as a keeper-batter. In his absence, KL Rahul has done a pretty decent job. While his Test and T20I credentials may have suffered massive hits, he has scored crucial runs in the middle role in ODIs and has kept well in Indian conditions.
Therefore, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes Rahul is a certainty in India's World Cup squad.
"Look, I do think they'll stick with him. I think in their World Cup squad, KL will definitely be there," Ponting said in the latest episode of ICC Review.
Rahul, the LSG captain, once again played a matured knock on a spinner-friendly Lucknow track to help his side chase down the tricky 122-run target against SRH and rise to the top of the points table in IPL 2023.
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Pant's absence means India won't have an extra left-handed option in the middle-order, which comes in handy to tackle match-ups planned by opposition captains. Ponting believes Ishan Kishan should get the preference over Sanju Samson.
"I think Ishan Kishan should definitely be there as well to give another left-handed batting option because if you look back to game three, they promoted Axar and Jadeja ahead of Surya because of Ashton Agar and the balls spinning away from the right-handers," the Delhi Capitals head coach added.
While KL Rahul has donned the role in recent ODIs, Ishan Kishan continues to remain a part of the India limited-overs setup.
"With Rishabh not being there now, they might think of maybe wanting to play a specialist left-handed batter in the middle order which I think would have to be Ishan Kishan in some role, whether that's at No.4 or No.5.
"Just to negate teams that have got left-arm off-spin because when you look at the spinners around the world now, there are very few right-arm off-spinners in ODIs and T20Is.
"You need to have left-handers through your middle order. Most sides will have left-arm off-spin and right-arm leg spin and if you've only got right-handers through the middle order, it's a lot harder for those guys to play it."
"So I think they'll go into that World Cup with the two keepers in their squad and they'll make the decision on what they need as far as their batting is concerned," the former Australia captain.
