Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar warned Indian batters — KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, to not take anything lightly in the 50-overs format; otherwise, it could cost both players a place in the Indian side. Rahul and Iyer, both batters have been under the scanner for their batting performances in the ODI format, however, for now both the players have managed to silence their critics with their recent performances in the ODI format of the game.
But there is a lot of competition for places in the Indian ODI side, especially with the ODI World Cup 2023 just around the corner. Sunil Gavaskar feels that both the players should not miss a single chance in order to fix their spot in the playing XI for the marquee event.
Gavaskar also reminded KL Rahul and Iyer of the fact that India has a plethora of options with Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, and Suryakumar Yadav as the middle-order choice for team India.
Further, Gavaskar insisted that the competition between Shreyas and Rahul would only benefit the two batters however he also warned the duo of the possible return of Pandya to the ODI set-up could affect their chances to cement their places in team India. He said:
“When you have someone breathing down you neck like KL Rahul will feel Shreyas Iyer is breathing down his neck which is again good for Rahul because he would want to go out there not taking any match lightly. He would want to score in every game.”
He added, “Both of them are outstanding fielders and KL Rahul can keep wickets which is a huge plus. Iyer can also bowl. So, it is good to have these kinds of competitions for No. 5 and 6 not to forget that there is a certain Hardik Pandya who is also likely to come back in the one-day side sooner than later.”
