Team India faced Bangladesh in the first ODI of the three-match series in Dhaka on December 4.
To everyone’s surprise, India’s wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was released from the ODI squad minutes before the series opener against Bangladesh.
Not aware of Rishabh Pant’s exclusion, says KL Rahul
KL Rahul played a crucial knock of 73 runs against Bangladesh in the first ODI. Despite his efforts, Team India suffered a disappointing defeat by 1 wicket as the last Bangladesh pair of Mehidy Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman helped their team in successfully chasing India’s below-par total of 187 runs.
KL Rahul batted at number five in the first ODI which is Rishabh Pant’s usual batting position. After Team India’s loss, Rahul was asked about Rishabh Pant’s sudden release from the squad and his role in the middle order to which he gave a detailed response.
“We haven’t played a lot of ODIs in the past 6-7 months, but if you look at 2020-2021, I’ve kept wickets in the one-day format and I’ve batted at number four and five. It’s a role that the team has asked me to be ready for. When it comes to Rishabh (Pant), I’m not very aware to be honest. I just found out in the dressing room that he was being released, I don’t know what the reasons are, maybe the medical team will be in a better position to answer that question,” Rahul said.
“I didn’t see him in the dressing room and we asked, ‘what happened?’, and we found out that he was released. We had to focus on the game so we didn’t ask too many questions,” Rahul further added.
It’s worth noting that Pant was released following a consultation with the BCCI medical team. There were news circulating in the media according to which, Rishabh Pant wasn’t 100% fit even during the New Zealand tour but still kept playing. With KL Rahul and Sanju Samson in the squad who can take up the wicketkeeping responsibilities, the BCCI hasn’t announced any replacement for Pant. It has been further added that Rishabh will join the team ahead of the Test series.