The Indian cricket team has received a blow ahead of their first ODI against Bangladesh with wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant released from the squad post consultation with the BCCI medical team. In a tweet after the match toss for the series opener on Sunday, the BCCI announced that Pant will not be part of the three ODIs without revealing further details.
However, Pant will be available for selection for the two-match Test series that follows the ODIs. No replacement will be named for him though.
“In consultation with the BCCI Medical Team, Rishabh Pant has been released from the ODI squad. He will join the team ahead of the Test series. No replacement has been sought,” a tweet from the official handle of the Indian cricket board read.
In Pant’s absence, KL Rahul has perform the wicketkeeping duties, at least for the series opener as India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed during the match toss.
Additionally, allrounder Axar Patel was not available for selection for the first ODI. However, the reason behind his unavailability hasn’t been revealed.
“Some injures and few issues, we got four all-rounders playing,” Rohit said at the toss.
He added, “We hardly played many games in New Zealand, but we fought well. Some of the guys batted really well.”
And reiterated that the team isn’t thinking about the 2023 ODI World Cup. “World Cup is still far away, we don’t want to look too far ahead. We want to focus on what we have in hand and play accordingly,” Rohit said.
The Test series starts from December 14.
India XI For The 1st ODI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Sen
