Indian Cricket Team’s head-coach Gautam Gambhir has dropped a huge hint regarding the team’s starting 11 for the first test match versus Bangladesh at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium on Thursday.
Interacting with the media at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium on the eve of the first-test, Gautam made the selection debate between Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel, and Sarfaraz Khan and Lokesh Rahul come to an end.
After performing consistently in First-class-Cricket over the years and constantly knocking on the doors of the selectors for a really long time with his impressive Ranji Trophy performances, Sarfaraz Khan finally got the opportunity to make his maiden test appearance for the Men in Blue in the home test series versus England earlier in the year.
The 26-year-old scored fifties continuously in his debut test in the city of Ranchi, and he scored yet another half-century in the city of Dharamsala as well, showcasing his batting-prowess against both the pacers and the spinners.
However, he got the opportunity to make his test-debut after KL Rahul was ruled out of the England series due to an injury he suffered in the Rajkot test match.
With KL Rahul returning to Team India’s Test set-up after his long injury layoff, Gambhir insisted that Khan will have to play the waiting game and wait for his chances, given the fact that the experience of Lokesh Rahul will play an important role in the Men in Blue’s build up towards the upcoming Border Gavaskar test-series versus Australia in December of this year.
The world Cup winning head coach said the same thing about Dhruv Jurel as well, who made an excellent start to his test-career versus England earlier in the year, executing a man-of-the-match display in the Ranchi test-match.
GG backed Rishabh Pant to make his long awaited test comeback after getting side lined due to a horrific car-accident. The wicketkeeper batsman’s last match in the longest format of the game was way back in 2022 versus Bangladesh in Mirpur.
“We are not going to drop any player from the starting 11. We are just going to select the players who are best suited to fit in the playing XI. He (Dhruv Jurel) is a fantastic player and had a good test debut versus England but when Pant is available for selection, then you have to play the waiting game. Same goes with Sarfaraz (Khan) as well. Opportunities will arrive at the right time and you just have to wait patiently,” Gambhir said.
With the Rohit Sharma-led team participating in a really long Test-season, the young players will definitely get chances to impress with the team-management expected to rotate all the players and manage their workload accordingly.
Also Read: Jasprit Bumrah set to get rested in the second test vs Bangladesh | Rohit Sharma drops a huge hint
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