The ex-Indian wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel has made his hypothetical team for the JSCA International Stadium first ODI against South Africa in Ranchi and left out Rishabh Pant and Ruturaj Gaikwad from his final XI.
After getting a comprehensive defeat from the Proteas in the Test series, the Men in Blue are eager to take the revenge in the shorter format, hence the ODI series starts on November 30.
The Indian ODI squad is all set to get a facelift as Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer are ruled out due to injuries.
Rishabh Pant and Ruturaj Gaikwad absentees as India picked ODI XI
The former wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel has been requested recently for his thoughts on India’s playing XI for the inaugural ODI against South Africa.
In the playing XI, he has not taken the side of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rishabh Pant, although these two players have been kept in the mix of things and are more appropriate to take the lead in the race for the First ODI.
Ruturaj Gaikwad came out of a fantastic series against South Africa A and was also given the Player of the Series. Gaikwad has also been seen training with Virat Kohli in the Ranchi nets.
Rishabh Pant, on the contrary, has not participated in this format since July 2024. Although he has been dazzling in the Test format for India, he has played only 31 matches for India since his debut and has a mere 33.50 average.
Parthiv Patel supports India’s T20 star for an ODI spot
As the wicketkeeper-batsman in Shubman Gill’s absence, KL Rahul has become the captain of the side and is likely to keep wickets as well, hence the ex-Indian wicket-keeper believes that there is no need for Rishabh Pant in the team.
Tilak Varma, who is the Indian T20I star and performing excellently in the shortest format of the game, has got the support of Parthiv Patel. He made his debut in ODIs for India in 2023 and has played a total of four matches in his career.
In these four games, he also made a notable contribution by scoring a half-century against South Africa in Paarl. He shows excellent domestic performance in white-ball cricket and has made a total of 1724 runs in 44 matches with an average of 45.36 and 5 centuries.
In a Star Sports talk show, Parthiv Patel made a case for him to be placed at number 4 and put aside Rishabh Pant, who had a poor run in the Test series, and also Ruturaj Gaikwad who had not been consistent.
India to choose between Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar
The wicketkeeper-batter and present coach of Gujarat Titans also mentioned that Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy would be selected based on the circumstances. Yet, he overlooked Gautam Gambhir’s penchant for batting depth.
He has gone with a three-spin, three-pace attack but it is very likely that Gautam Gambhir will include Nitish Kumar Reddy, along with Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshit Rana. Nevertheless, the Titans coach also included Prasidh Krishna in the playing XI.
Parthiv Patel’s India XI for first ODI: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar/Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh.