KL Rahul led India to an ODI series win over South Africa earlier this week.
With Rishabh Pant still recovering from a horrific car accident he incurred in December last year, Team India have struggled to find an ideal replacement for him behind the stumps, especially in Test cricket. While there is no hint of Pant’s return to international circuit anytime soon, India are set to play South Africa in a two-match Test series, starting with the first game in Centurion from December 26. They will also play five Tests against England on home soil, starting January 24. While KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan have kept the wickets in Pant’s absence, it is KL Rahul who is set to take the responsibility against South Africa.
During a recent interaction, former India batter Gautam Gambhir hoped that the upcoming series against South Africa does not turn out to be a one-off situation for Rahul as a wicketkeeper.
While Gambhir is confident that Rahul will do well behind the stumps against South Africa, the former India opener feels his real challenge will be to keep the wickets in India’s spin-friendly tracks.
“I hope this is not a one-off situation because that would be unfair. His real challenge will not be wicketkeeping in South Africa, but on rank turners, in that five Test match series against England when Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar will be bowling. No challenge is bigger than that. If you are looking at these two Test matches, then I would rather not play him (as a keeper) because I would look at long-term plans, and India don’t have a long-term plan right now because you only have KS Bharat and Rahul now. But probably it is the right way of going about things in allowing KL Rahul do the job until Rishabh Pant returns,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
A few months away from making an on-field return, Pant was at the IPL 2024 auction table for Delhi Capitals. As Pant continues to work on his recovery, he opened up on the car crash, admitting that he is lucky to be alive today.
“The kind of accident I had I am lucky to be alive. The first part of recovery was so challenging with lots of pain but now recovery is going well,” Pant said in a video posted by the IPL on social media.
“More from a physical point of view because in the starting there was a lot of pain to be endured. But just looking forward to the journey till now. I think it’s been going really well from a recovery point of view,” he said.
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