Shubhman Gill got his long-awaited Test call-up and K.L. Rahul was asked to get back among the runs as the BCCI named its 15-member Test squad for the upcoming three-match series against South Africa here on Thursday.
The selectors also decided to try Rohit Sharma as opener in the longer format, a slot that has seen quite a few claimants being tested and falling short in the last couple of years. Rohit will be also be leading the Board President’s side in the warm-up game ahead of the series.
“Rohit has been opening in white ball cricket for more than a decade now and we all think he has the ability to bat up the order. He was keen and we also want to give him some opportunities to bat up the order in Tests and see where he stands.
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Big boost
“If he can do that in red ball also nothing like that, and since we have a lot of Tests coming up, it will be a boost to the side,” chief selector M.S.K. Prasad said here.
Rohit’s inclusion comes at the cost of Rahul, who has his task cut out, but Prasad was clear that the change was not merely for experimentation. “It is unfortunate that some of these guys (Shikhar Dhawan, M. Vijay) have gone out of the side purely on form.
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“Everyone was given a fair run, so was KL. He is an exceptional talent, but unfortunately his form has dipped. With seniors like Shikhar also not there you cannot change both the openers in the side constantly and that helped him get more opportunities. But Rahul was delivering only in patches, not consistently,” Prasad clarified.
Prasad was also hopeful of Gill proving himself. “He has done well, both as an opener and in the middle-order, so he can be a backup for both slots. But as he keeps playing, he will get more opportunities because he is a player for all three formats,” Prasad added.
Pressure on Pant
While the likes of Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya found themselves out of the side purely because of the team’s requirements at home — with only two seamers likely to play — it may not be easy for Rishabh Pant to retain his place. While refusing to comment on who would be the first choice wicketkeeper in the series, Prasad put the onus on the team management.
“Rishabh is definitely (main) to begin with but let’s leave it to how the team management thinks. We need a ’keeper with some more skills while playing at home,” was all he said, indicating that the youngster needed to work a lot more on his game.
Asked about the road ahead for the likes of Vijay or Rahul, Prasad was categorical. “When V.V.S. Laxman was dropped, he went back to domestic cricket, got 1400 runs, returned to the side and never looked back. That’s it.”
The first Test will be played at Visakhapatnam from October 2.
Board President’s XI squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Siddhesh Lad, K.S. Bharat (wk), Jalaj Saxena, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Avesh Khan, Ishan Porel, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav.