While Rishabh Pant's 51 off 32 balls paved the way for Delhi Capitals' victory over the fancied Chennai Super Kings in Vizag on Easter Sunday, it also provided Ajit Agarkar and the rest of the Indian selectors another exciting option for the wicket-keeper's slot when it comes to picking the team for the T20 World Cup to be played in West Indies and USA in the month of June.
Since the MS Dhoni era began, Indian cricket has been blessed with an array of gifted ball strikers, who can also keep wickets efficiently. Where Pant scores over others is his ability to take down spin and his left-handedness. His fitness in a high intensity format after a lengthy injury layoff remains the only question.
While his T20 numbers aren't great, there is little doubt about whether Rohit and Dravid will want him in the squad or not if he is fit.
India may need to travel with two wicket-keeper batters in the squad of 15 and carry another one as a travelling reserve because of the difficulty in getting players across quickly if there is an unfortunate injury or illness to any of the team members.
Hence Jitesh Sharma, Sanju Samson, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan will all have their hopes high of getting on the plane to the US.
The thing going for Jitesh is he is performing the same role for his franchise, the Punjab Kings, that India have earmarked for him, that of a finisher, who can attack in the end overs at No.6.
With Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul effectively being top-order players, who target the powerplay overs, it might make it tough for them to break into the top four of the Indian team as it has gun players like Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav batting in those slots.
Will Kishan, Sanju and Rahul take the option of batting lower in the batting order and hurt their franchise's chances in the IPL and audition for a slot in the Indian team? If they do, the franchise owners will sport a long face.
1/10:IPL 2024: Delhi Capitals down Chennai Super Kings
PTI
2/10:Rishabh Pant
<p>Rishabh Pant led Delhi Capitals with his first IPL fifty since his comeback from a car crash, guiding them to a 20-run victory over Chennai Super Kings.<br /></p>PTI
3/10:Prithvi Shaw and David Warner
<p>Warner and Prithvi Shaw's opening partnership of 93 set the stage for Delhi before Chennai's bowlers fought back, including Matheesha Pathirana's two strikes in an over.<br /></p>PTI
4/10:David Warner
<p>David Warner's 52 coupled with Captain Pant's 51 off 32 balls, propelled Delhi to 191-5 in Visakhapatnam, their adopted homeground due to the upcoming general elections.<br /></p>PTI
5/10:Matheesha Pathirana
<p>Pathirana, nicknamed "Baby Malinga" for his slinging action and trademark yorkers reminiscent of the former Sri Lankan pace ace Lasith Malinga, finished with figures of 3-31.<br /></p>ANI
6/10:Khaleel Ahmed
<p>Khaleel Ahmed claimed the wickets of CSK openers and returned with bowling figures of 2-21 and was named the Man of the Match.</p>PTI
7/10:Ajinkya Rahane and Daryl Mitchell
<p>Ajinkya Rahane (45) and Daryl Mitchell (34) stitched together a 68-run partnership in their bid to revive the chase. However, after their dismissals, wickets tumbled in quick succession.<br /></p>PTI
8/10:MS Dhoni
<p>In Visakhapatnam, the crowd largely supported CSK, chanting "Dhoni, Dhoni". The former skipper responded with an unbeaten 37 off 16 balls, featuring four fours and three sixes.<br /></p>PTI
9/10:Mukesh Kumar
<p>In his spell of 3 overs, Mukesh Kumar claimed 3 wickets while conceding 21 runs.<br /></p>PTI
