Xtra Time Web Desk: The inclusion of wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant looks to be in serious doubts for the India’s white ball squads for the tour Down Under next month. As per reports the team management is not happy with the fitness of the Delhi cricketer. Pant is said to be overweight according to Team India’s fitness trainer Nick Webb. The selectors have already been shared a fitness report on each and every cricketer currently taking part in the ongoing IPL 2020. The report will come up for discussion as the selectors meet on Monday to pick the squad. The views of Indian captain will be taken during the selection meeting which will be held virtually for the first time.
The positive things that are in Pant’s favour is his record in the last tour to Australia in 2018-19. He scored a brilliant hundred (159*) in the fourth test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) to help Team India to win its first ever test series on Australian soil.
But the worrying factor that might go against Pant is his woeful form with the bat in the IPL 2020. He has scored only 217 runs from 8 matches at an average of 31. He is yet to register a 50-plus score and his highest score of the season remains his 17-ball 38 against Kolkata on October 3.
Meanwhile, the other contemporary wicketkeeper-batsmen like KL Rahul and Sanju Samson have been consistently scoring runs. Going by the recent form, both Rahul and Samson are likely to be considered for the limited-overs segment of the series.
Test specialist Wriddhiman Saha is likely to be selected for the four-match Test series which will run from December 2020 to January 2021.