Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel expressed his dissatisfaction with Team India's head coach Rahul Dravid's decision, who confirmed KL Rahul as the wicketkeeper for the upcoming Test series in South Africa. Apparently, former India's star wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv was not pleased with this choice.
The Test series between India and South Africa is set to commence on December 26 in Centurion. All eyes will be on Indian team to see what lineup they choose to field, as this series presents a chance for India to secure their first-ever Test series win on South African soil.
India have two wicketkeepers, KL Rahul and KS Bharat, in their Test squad for South Africa series. Bharat joined the squad after Ishan Kishan withdrew from the series, citing mental fatigue. However, Bharat's chances of playing seem slim, especially with Rahul in the team.
Meanwhile, India's head coach Rahul Dravid has almost confirmed that KL Rahul will be the wicketkeeper in both matches. This will be a new role for Rahul, who will be make his wicketkeeping debut in Tests. This series will also mark the first time he bats in the middle order while simultaneously handling wicketkeeping duties in the longest format of the game.
Parthiv was not in favor of Rahul taking on the wicketkeeping responsibilities for the Test series in South Africa. He suggested that the team should have opted for a player who regularly fulfills the wicketkeeping role in the Ranji Trophy. Expressing his thoughts on his Twitter account, Patel wrote,“India’s test match wicketkeeper should be someone who is keeping regularly in ranji trophy or first-class cricket…”.
KL has been the wicketkeeper for India in ODIs and has excelled in this role. His performance during the World Cup 2023, particularly his wicketkeeping, earned him praise from many, including the team's coaches. Rahul's skill behind the stumps was evident throughout the tournament, with his Decision Review System (DRS) calls being particularly noteworthy. Almost all his calls were accurate, and his composure while keeping contributed significantly to his success.
The Indian head coach Dravid, discussing Rahul's potential wicketkeeping role in the Test series against South Africa, viewed it as a chance for Rahul to take on a new challenge.
In the pre-match press-conference Dravid said,"It’s an exciting challenge. It’s an opportunity for him to do something different. With Ishan unavailable, we had a couple of keepers to choose from. Rahul is very confident about giving it a go. We understand that he hasn’t done that quite often (in the longest format), but he has done it in fifty overs, and even that is tough."
“He has done a lot of keeping in the past five-six months. One of the things here is that there is more pace bowling than spin, which will ease him into the role. We will see how it goes. It is nice to have someone like him, someone who has the ability with the bat and keep,” Dravid added.
Recently, Rahul led the Indian team to a 2-1 victory in the ODI series against South Africa, where he also assumed the role of wicketkeeper in the crucial final match.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma's brigade are eyeing their first-ever Test series win over Proteas on South African soil. In India's eight tours to South Africa since their initial visit in 1992, the home team has emerged victorious in seven, with the series in 2010/11 ending in a draw. Notably, six of these South African victories were by a narrow margin of just one win.
Here's India's squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk)
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
Gautam Gambhir handpicks India's Playing XI for Boxing Day Test vs South Africa with surprise entry
'London trip was communicated, planned well': Virat Kohli's sudden rush from South Africa revealed
'You are judged by results…': Why did Rahul Dravid say this on aggressive brand of Test cricket ahead of series opener vs SA?
Big News: Kieron Pollard snubs West Indies to become assistant coach of this team for 2024 T20 World Cup
INDW vs AUSW: Harmanpreet Kaur's India script history at Wankhede Stadium, register first-ever Test win over Australia
