Gautam Gambhir Opens Up On Rahul Vs Pant Debate, Chakravarthy's Inclusion In CT Squad

India's head coach Gautam Gambhir made it clear that KL Rahul is team's first-choice wicketkeeper going into the Champions Trophy and the flamboyant Rishabh Pant is not being considered as an option in the playing eleven in the immediate future. (More Badminton News)

Among all the players that were chosen for the England ODIs, only Pant wasn't given a start by the head coach as all the others got at least one game if not three.

Rahul, who initially batted at No. 6 in the first two games, didn't look comfortable and fared far better at the familiar No. 5 position with a useful 40 off 29 balls in India's one-sided 142-run victory in the third ODI.

"Ultimately, it is very difficult to talk about individuals. But all I can say is that if he is part of the squad, when time comes, he might get an opportunity. But at the moment, obviously, KL is the No 1 wicketkeeper and he has delivered for us," Gambhir told media persons at the series-ending press conference.

"When you've got two wicket keepers in the squad, you can't play both the wicketkeepers with the kind of quality we've got. Hopefully, whenever he (Pant) gets that opportunity, he should be ready for it. That's all I can say at the moment. Yes, KL is the one who's going to start," Gambhir added.

Gambhir said while there will never be a case of ticking all boxes without specifying what India did not achieve, he praised the team for the all-round show.

"See, there will never be a case where all the boxes will be ticked, but yes, (it is a) good result, important thing is that we were very very professional today," he said.

"We could have easily seen this game as a dead rubber, but the important thing was that we wanted to try and put ourselves under pressure, we wanted to try and play this game as a must-win game and guys actually turned up like that.”

Gambhir said the medical team at the NCA should be able to provide an update on the status of Jasprit Bumrah.

"Obviously he has been ruled out. But all the details I can't give you because it's up to the medical team to talk about that how long is he going to be out for and stuff because it's the medical team that decides at NCA,” he said.

Gambhir also urged people not to mix-up formats while comparing performances, a case in point being Shubman Gill, who scored two fifties and a hundred in the ODI series on flat batting tracks after failing miserably on bouncy and seam-friendly Australian tracks.

"The problem is that we keep judging people after every innings. He's still a young batter, he's still 25. He's got a great future ahead of him and if he's been consistent in one format… Test cricket is tough cricket. He's shown that he belongs to that format as well," Gambhir said.

"I hope that going forward, he can actually deliver in that (Test) format as well. If someone can do it in 50-over cricket, why can't he do it in Test cricket as well? He's played some really good innings in Test format as well. By judging a young cricketer after every inning, we're not going to carry Indian cricket forward like that.”

"You've got to start putting trust in these young players. He's still 25. So, imagine what can happen in the next couple of years if we keep backing him and keep backing a lot of young cricketers in that dressing room. That is something which we need to be clear about," he added.

Gambhir said India wanted to manage Mohammed Shami's workload which is why the bowler played two matches each in the T20I and ODI series.

"We were trying to manage his workload, that's the reason why we played him in two T20s and two ODIs and hopefully he's going to be fresh and ready to go in the Champions Trophy," he said.

He also justified dropping young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal from the final squad of 15 for the Champions Trophy, saying the left-hander has a long career ahead of him.

"The only reason was because we wanted another wicket-taking option in the middle and we know that what Varun Chakravarthy brings to the table," the coach said.

"We know that Varun can be a massive threat and with a lot of teams who haven't played him and he could be a X-factor as well. I'm not going to say that he's going to start and all that stuff but it's always good to have a strong bowling line-up."

"Because we know that if he can actually get those wickets in the middle, it's always going to be an advantage and that was one of the reasons otherwise we know that Yashasvi has got a fabulous future ahead, it's just that we could only pick 15," Gambhir added.