Ahead of the India vs South Africa (IND vs SA) 1st ODI, current team skipper KL Rahul has cleared the air. He has made it clear that he will keep the wickets for India and bat in the middle order for the ODI series. As far as the Test series is concerned, he will don any role that Rohit Sharma and the India Cricket Team board decides.
“I will be doing Wicket-keeping & batting in middle order in this ODI series – happy to take any role in the Test series which captain & management wants (talking about keeping role) – of course, even in T20, I want to play for my country,” said KL Rahul at the pre match Press Conference.
KL Rahul has made it clear that he will no longer be a contender to fight for the opening spot. This essentially means that the Indian team will likely feature Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sai Sudarshan as the openers.
KL Rahul is a versatile batter and has faired well while opening the batting for the Men in Blue. However, there has been a selection conundrum for the India vs South Africa ODI series with the usual suspects missing out. Ruturaj Gaikwad is an automatic selection. However, other names popped out like KL Rahul and Sanju Samson who could have taken a shot at the prized spot.
But with KL Rahul making it clear that he will keep wickets and bar in the middle order, it is almost certain that he will bat at number 4 while Sai Sudarshan is the likely player to partner Ruturaj at the start of the innings.
