SL vs IND: Gautam Gambhir Picks Between Rishabh Pant And Sanju Samson For The First T20I: Team India under Rohit Sharma won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in style without losing any game. This also marked the end of the wait of 11 long years without an ICC title. Also, India won the T20 World Cup after 17 years. After the final, Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from the shortest format of the game along with Ravindra Jadeja. Rahul Dravid’s contract as the Head Coach expired and Gautam Gambhir has replaced him as the Head Coach.
The first assignment for Gautam Gambhir will be the T20I series against Sri Lanka. Suryakumar Yadav was chosen as the captain of the T20I team. However, there is one more dilemma: Who will play as the wicket-keeper batter in the series. Both Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant are present in the squad. These two were present in the T20 World Cup 2024 squad as well and Pant was given the nod at number 3 ahead of Samson. However, he did not shine with the bat as he would have liked.
SL vs IND: Gautam Gambhir Picks Between Rishabh Pant And Sanju Samson For The First T20I
Samson has not found consistent chances in the Indian team. He has a brilliant ODI record and scored a century against South Africa in the last ODI but failed to make it to the ODI squad for the series against Sri Lanka. Both of them are not finishers and hence they could bat at number 3 position.
Pant was made to play at number 3 and was given a new role in his dwindling T20 career. According to reports, Pant is set to be favoured yet again in the XI. Moreover, he is a left-hander which provides the X factor. However, Gambhir had earlier stated in interviews that Pant should only focus on the longest format. So, it remains to be seen who gets the opportunity in the first T20I against Sri Lanka.
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