Rishabh Pant has earned his stripes with excellent batting performances in Australia and will get a long rope in the five-day format, said India captain Virat Kohli, who also loosely hinted that Axar Patel might be in line for a Test debut against England.
The Indian captain also made it clear that while bowlers, who can bat well, will be in the “forefront of their plans” during the four Tests, the opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill is expected to be persisted with during the entire duration of the series.
“Yes, Rishabh will start and take the gloves tomorrow. He had impact performances recently and he is in a good space, and we want him to build on this along with improvement in all aspects of his game,” Kohli said while elaborately discussing various aspects of team combination.
“This will happen with game time and confidence he gains with playing those games, that’s how we look at Rishabh,” he added.
“We have backed him quite a lot and for good reason what we saw in Australia, what he can do with the bat and that brings in a lot of value to this team. He will be continued to be backed because he is an impact player and opposition will be wary of him,” Kohli said.
The skipper said that they will continue to back bowling all-rounders, which has been the pattern for the team’s success in home conditions.
And therein, Axar, according to the captain, fits the bill perfectly if one factors in Ravindra Jadeja’s absence.
“The reason was basically to have someone similar to Jadeja’s skills as to what they provide to the team which Axar brings in all three departments of the game. That falls in our plans...Since Jaddu was not available, Axar was preferred, because he brings in the same kind of discipline on the field.”
Kohli was very clear about his plans on Rohit-Gill combination.
“We are looking forward to giving them all four Tests and give us good starts. The key to winning the Tests was how they batted in Australia. We are looking forward to more of that in this series,” he said.
On a different note, he indicated that with four Tests at home, Kuldeep Yadav is expected to get his share of chances, having last played a five-day game in January, 2019.
“Someone like Kuldeep hasn’t had much of a game time in the longest format for a while now. But now that the home season starts, he will be in the scheme of things. To keep guys motivated, you need to give them goals,” Kohli said.