NB Twitter Soch | Is Ishan Kishan better than Wriddhiman Saha as Rahul's replacement for WTC final, netizens question!

BCCI's selection committee on Monday named Ishan Kishan as the replacement for KL Rahul, who suffered injury on his upper right thigh during the ongoing IPL 2023, for the World Test Championship final against Australia next month. Last week, Rahul, captain of Lucknow Super Giants, had ruled himself out of the WTC final after incurring an injury while fielding in an IPL match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

 

 

Social media was left enraged at an uncapped Ishan being announced as the replacement for Rahul over the experienced Wriddhiman Saha, but a recent report explained the reason behind the decision.

 

Saha, who last appeared for Team India in the Wankhede Test match in December 2021, should have been named by the selectors for the WTC final after his recent impressive performances in IPL 2023 which included his wicketkeeping as well. With selectors going back to Ajinkya Rahane based on experience, fans on social media felt a similar could be pulled off in the case of Saha as well.

 

 

However, the selection committee, under interim chief Shiv Sunder Das, backed Ishan for the role and it only showed continuity given that he was picked as the back-up wicketkeeping option in the Border-Gavaskar series as well, as explained in a report by PTI which added that Saha's name was never even taken during the discussion for the second keeper's role.

 

Notably, the 39-year-old had admitted that the door for his return to the Indian team was closed forever. “Don’t think so I will be selected for India anymore," the wicketkeeper-batter told Sports Tak in an interview, “Coach and chief selectors had already informed me. If they wanted to select me, I could have been part of the England tour based on my IPL performance. It’s a clear decision (on their part). But I am only concerned about playing cricket. Till the time I am feeling good, I will continue."

 

There was also an uproar over India A skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran missing from the stand-by list where Ruturaj Gaikwad got a mention alongside Mukesh Kumar and Suryakumar Yadav. Fans cited Easwaran's India A record to question the logic behind his snub against the selection of the Maharashtra batter, who is known more for his exploits in the IPL for CSK.

 

India's squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).

 

Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.