Bengaluru, July 23: Whenever an Indian cricket team is picked, one point or another always comes up for a debate.
In the recently held ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales, India made some strange selections that left the experts and fans astonished.
For example, filling up the middle order line-up with a number of wicket-keeper-batsmen and not picking up a specialist batsman. The had to pay a heavy price in the semifinal when the top order crumbled against New Zealand.
Now, Indian squads for all the three formats have been picked up for the upcoming West Indies tour. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni making himself unavailable for a couple of months and Dinesh Karthik losing favour after an ordinary World Cup, Rishabh Pant was picked as the first-choice wicket-keeper in all the three squads. However, in Tests, veteran keeper Wriddhiman Saha was included as his back-up. And a confusion seems to have surfaced there.
Saha was considered Dhoni's immediate successor because of his good skills with the gloves. But a string of injuries - hamstring, thumb, shoulder - kept him out from international cricket for a long time.
He played in the Indian Premier League last year but made a comeback only in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy early this year. Meanwhile, in the absence of Saha, Pant made a meteoric rise in Tests - more for his batting prowess though.
He has already hit two hundreds on foreign soil and a couple of 90s at home against the West Indies last year. The sensational 21-year-old is being projected as India's long-term plan behind the stumps.
And that raises a question mark over Saha, a veteran of 32 Tests. At 34, the Bengal wicket-keeper is certainly not a long-term prospect to serve Indian cricket. And if Pant is the main wicket-keeper in Tests as well, what purpose does it serve by including Saha in the squad?
While he will be happy to have reclaimed his position in the Indian side, his pick as the second-important keeper also puts him under the danger of losing out once again without getting to don the whites once again. With Andhra keeper KS Bharat not too behind either, Saha is left to compete with time.
Expert commentator Harsha Bhogle also raised the question. He said while Saha is a better keeper, India need to decide on who is their No.1 gloveman. If Pant is the one, then nothing is to be gained much by making Saha hanging around.