Former Indian batsmen Mohammad Kaif has taken a jibe at Indian captain Virat Kohli for not backing his players, namely wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant.
The outrageous stroke maker was earmarked to be the successor of legendary wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni.
Therefore, the youngster was provided with several opportunities which he wasted due to his flamboyance.
He took a blow on his head during one of the ODI matches against Australia which made him out of favour from the limited-overs side.
Then, KL Rahul trumped Pant as the first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman in the playing XI. During the five-match T20I and ODI series, Rahul paid rich dividends to the team by scoring 220 and 203 runs in the series, respectively. While Pant was made to warm the benches during the entirety of the limited-overs-leg in the New Zealand tour.
“Even for the wicketkeeping role, they are shuffling many players. India needs a permanent specialist wicketkeeper. KL Rahul can be a backup wicketkeeper, but I don’t think he should be the main. If you want to support Rishabh Pant over Dhoni, then Kohli should back him. He should not be the water boy of the team,” Kaif stated on Helo app.
Further, Kaif pointed out towards the tendency of chopping and changing a bit too much by mentioning the fiasco at the 2019 World Cup.
“Kohli is doing a lot of experiments with team selection. He should not have done that. Kohli tried many combinations and even selected players who don’t have so much exposure during the last World Cup,” added Kaif.
In the matches before the World Cup, Ambati Rayudu was touted to be the number four batsmen. But the management went ahead with the inexperience of Vijay Shankar, who was eventually injured in the tournament.
Instead of calling in Rayudu, who remained in the reserves, MSK Prasad and Co. sent Mayank Agarwal as the replacement for Shankar, while rookie Pant batted at four during crucial games.
