"You’d rather have that headache than not have KL" - India don't rule out both KL Rahul & Ishan Kishan in playing XI

Both KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan together stand a chance to be a part of the playing XI, feels the Indian team management. The former made a comeback into the side as India on Tuesday announced their 15-man squad for the upcoming 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup.

Filling in as the wicketkeeper-batter, Ishan Kishan came up clutch in India’s Asia Cup opener against Pakistan on Saturday. However, KL Rahul has returned as the incumbent. But chief selector Ajit Agarkar didn’t rule out having both of them in the side.

“It’s a good headache to have, isn’t it? Ishan played a lovely knock, despite generally opening the innings. You’d rather have that headache than not have KL. You can see KL’s record in one-day cricket is fantastic. So when he comes, there will be a conversation, but at least you have two options now who you can pick from,” Agarkar told reporters in Kandy after picking India’s World Cup squad.

The 25-year-old Ishan played the escape artist’s role with aplomb, scoring an invaluable 82 off 81 balls. He shared a 138-run partnership fifth-wicket stand with Hardik Pandya (87 off 90) to help India recover from 66 for four to post 266.

Skipper Rohit Sharma also showered praise on Ishan Kishan, pointing at the factors taken into considering while announcing the playing XI.

“There will be a possibility, yes, why not? As long as everyone’s available and fit to play, the selection depends on the opposition that we play, the current form, the players who have done well under pressure. Those things do matter, because it’s not just about getting some scores – how you get those runs is also quite important. Like for Ishan’s confidence, the last game he played was brilliant. Under pressure, batting at No. 5 for the first time, a left-hander gives us another dimension. We consider all those factors before we make our playing XI. I want everyone to be fit and available on that particular day,” he elaborated.

KL Rahul, who couldn’t travel to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup because of a niggle, has attained full fitness. The 31-year-old is expected to join the squad for the Super Fours stage.

“He was part of the camp in Bangalore; he looked really good there. But he just picked up that niggle, which I spoke about before the Asia Cup. But he’s gotten over it. He has played a couple of games over the last two days – kept for 50 overs, batted for 35 to 50 overs. He’s an important player for us and we’re happy to have him,” Ajit Agarkar stated.

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"You’d ideally want an off spinner" - Ajit Agarkar on India's spin department

Ravindra Jadeja starred with the ball against Nepal picking 3 for 40 from 10 overs

While it was expected that the Asia Cup group will be retained for the World Cup as well, there were murmurs about picking another variety of spinner.

Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was backed by several experts, and some even harped about the role of an off spinner against teams stacked with left-handers. Ajit Agarkar did sound tempted to pick an offie, but the former India pacer reasoned that batting depth was paramount.

“Clearly there will be discussions, considering we have Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel who both spin the ball into the left-hander. But like I said, both give us depth in batting apart from their bowling, which certainly helps. And Kuldeep [Yadav] takes the ball away. In the 50-overs format, yes you’d ideally want an off spinner, but this gives us the best balance. And the seamers generally bowl a lot in one-day cricket as opposed to T20 cricket. Perhaps you are under little bit more under pressure if you don’t have an offie but, at the moment, we are quite happy with the bowlers that we have,” he explained.

After the game against Nepal last night, Rohit Sharma iterated that they are yet to get all the boxes ticked. With all players available, the Men in Blue must make optimum use of the remainder of the Asia Cup and the three-match home ODI series against Australia.

India begin their World Cup campaign against the Aussies on October 8 in Chennai.

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