Sourav Ganguly clarifies on choosing KL Rahul over Rishabh Pant for wicket-keeping

Despite having wicketkeepers Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson in the team, KL Rahul is being prefered for the T20I series against New Zealand.

This move reminded fans about the time Rahul Dravid was asked to don the gloves ahead of the 2003 ODI World Cup. 

While initially, Lokesh Rahul took the responsibility after Pant suffered a concussion against Australia, he is being asked to keep wickets for India.

But why is Pant not getting back behind the stumps despite being fit is the question all asked and when BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was questioned on the same, he said the decision lies in the hands of the skipper.

“Virat Kohli takes that decision. The team management and captain decide the role of KL Rahul,” Ganguly told ABP News.

Asked about the race for the wicket-keeper’s spot for the T20 World Cup, Ganguly said, “The selectors, Virat and Ravi will decide that. Whatever they think, it’ll happen that way.”

It was same during Dravid's time as it was Ganguly who took the call of asking the batsman to keep wickets in order to play an extra batsman in the middle order back in 2002-03.

The Karnataka batsman has given a satisfactory performance with the gloves as well as his outstanding form with the bat continues.

Ganguly lauded Rahul for his batting performances in the white-ball cricket and also wished him to continue the same in red-ball as well.

“He has played well in ODIs and T20Is. He started well in Test cricket but has gone down slightly. But in limited-overs cricket, he has played really well and hope he continues all the good work but as I said, all these decisions are of the team management’s,” Ganguly added.

KL Rahul himself spoke about being a wicketkeeper and said, “I’m quite honestly loving it. At the international stage, it might seem very new and it might seem like I’ve never kept. (But) I’ve kept for my IPL franchise for the last 3-4 years, and I’ve kept for my first-class team as and when there is an opening. I’ve still stayed in touch with wicket keeping”.