Positives and negatives for India from their win against Windies in 1st ODI

#5 Selecting two wicket-keepers in the playing XI

Dhoni and Rishabh Pant - Which one to choose?

Teams like Sri Lanka and England are known to select two wicket-keepers in the team. Sometimes, Sri Lanka used to have 3 wicket-keepers in their playing XI.

The Indians have started doing this in recent times with Dinesh Karthik and Dhoni earlier and now with Rishabh Pant and Dhoni. One cannot expect the wicket-keepers to contribute with the ball and to be agile on the outfield. It narrows down the second keeper’s utility to the team.

As far as the newcomer Rishabh Pant is concerned, he will find it difficult to hold on to his place purely as a batsman. For Dhoni too, unless he contributes with the bat, he cannot prolong his career purely on the basis of his contributions from behind the stumps. It is a two-way problem for which there is only one solution. Now the time has come for the team management to decide either way keeping the interest of the team in mind.

Turning back, Team India haven’t learned anything new from the first ODI win against the West Indies. If at all anything, instead of identifying solutions for the old problems, the team management is confronted with more new problems which will give them sleepless nights.