Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan should be the first-choice openers for India in the 50-over format. Indian cricket team will start its preparations for the ODI World Cup with the upcoming three-match series against Sri Lanka. Shikhar Dhawan has been left out of the ODI series as the selectors have preferred young stars Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill over him. Now the race is between Kishan and Gill to find a place in the XI to open the innings alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.
Pathan feels that Kishan has an edge over Gill to partner with Rohit in the ODIs as he has scored a plethora of runs in recent times including a double century against Bangladesh. Meanwhile, he also talked highly of Gill and said he should be the third-choice opener in ODIs for his recent exploits with the bat.
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“I really think right now you should keep at least three openers in place, and for me Rohit and Ishan come first and then obviously Shubman Gill. Shubman Gill is definitely a class act, the two T20 matches did not go well but he has the ability in him and he has performed well at one day cricket. So, it’s important to have him at number three, but I will start with Rohit and Ishan Kishan because Ishan Kishan has played some good cricket recently scoring a lot of runs,” Patha said on Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’.
Pathan said that India should start taking decisions in ODI considering the upcoming World Cup which will take place in India.
“It is important to win the series, whatever series we play. The bilateral series or if you play the home or away series, it is important to win your confidence as well. But the aim would be the 2023 World Cup which is happening in India this October. So keeping the World Cup in mind, we need to focus on the team combination and select the 11 players accordingly,” he said.
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The southpaw suggested that the team management should give more chances to the 20 players who are on their radar to get a place in the World Cup squad.
“I expect team India to field only those players these 20 matches who will be playing the 2023 World Cup so that everyone gets enough time to prepare themselves and this preparation for the World Cup starts with the India vs Sri Lanka series,” he added.
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