BCCI's Overlooked Action Excludes KL Rahul from Rishabh Pant-Ishan Kishan Showdown for Bangladesh Test Spot

With Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan being selected for the upcoming Duleep Trophy tournament starting on September 5, there was speculation that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee would face a tough decision in choosing the two wicketkeepers for the upcoming two-match Test series against Bangladesh. It was believed that five players were in contention for the spots in the Indian Test team. However, the BCCI quietly removed one contender from the competition, as pointed out by former India cricketer Aakash Chopra.

After Pant's accident in December 2022, KS Bharat emerged as the frontrunner to replace the India star in the Test team, but he failed in impress both in the series against Australia at home in 2023 and in the WTC final. Ishan was then introduced in the format for the tour of West Indies and he impressed the selectors with a maiden fifty. While he was retained for the all-important tour of South Africa in January this year, he opted out citing mental health issues and hence KL Rahul was handed the role, albeit as a stop-gap option. But despite a rather decent show with the gloves, the team management went back to Bharat for the home series against England, before giving Dhruv Jurel an opportunity.

KL Rahul to not feature as wicketkeeper?

All five keeping options have been named for the Duleep Trophy tournament, which will play a key role in selectors deciding the final 15 for the Bangladesh series at home next month. However, it seems Rahul will not be kept in the red-ball event, as reckoned by Aakash on his YouTube channel.

The former India opener pointed out that, unlike the rest of the candidates, Rahul, who features in Team A in Duleep Trophy, doesn't have 'WK' written next to him, which designates wicketkeeper. Moreover, he felt that with Jurel also in the squad, he will likely be the keeper, while Rahul will feature solely as a batter.

“KL Rahul cannot be a wicketkeeper. I mean you don't even have 'WK' written after his name in the squad list. And since you picked Dhruv Jurel in that same team, it means, he will be the keeper. So, Rahul is no longer your keeper for Test cricket. And it is okay because he came at a time when Rishabh wasn't there, you will definitely put Rahul in the playing XI. He is also not the captain. He could have been in a different team as well. He or Pant could have been the captain instead of Abhimanyu Easwaran, but neither are captaincy candidates anymore,” he said.

However, what Aakash might have missed is that neither Jurel nor Pant bears 'WK' next to their names in the squad list released by the BCCI earlier this month.

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