You Can't Drop Him: Sunil Gavaskar Gives His Take On India's World Cup Squad

Ishan Kishan hit a superb 82 against Pakistan and according to Sunil Gavaskar, the southpaw should be in the squad for the World Cup.

Outlook Sports Desk

Updated on: 5 September 2023 6:07 am

Ishan Kishan has a double century to his name which he scored against BAN.

India's ODI World Cup squad will be announced today and as usual, names are doing the rounds on social media. Fit-again KL Rahul is expected to be available for selection and would give a massive boost to the middle-order. (More Cricket News)

However, the World Cup squad would be a 15-man squad and there would be few names who could miss out on the opportunity.

According to former skipper Sunil Gavaskar, dropping Ishan Kishan for KL Rahul would be 'unfair' on the former, given the form the southpaw is in.

Gavaskar opined that Ishan Kishan should be in the squad and the playing XI. The BCCI selection committee should replace KL Rahul with Shreyas Iyer.

"I would actually wait and see what Shreyas Iyer does against Nepal as well. And if he doesn't get runs in the game against Nepal, he might not even get an opportunity to bat. He could probably bat, you know, because against Nepal, if India go for 50 overs, the top three batters could possibly bat 40 odd overs. But otherwise I would look at, you know, in case Shreyas Iyer doesn't get runs, then I would look at both Rahul and Kishan batting at four and five. You can't drop after he got 80. He's got an 80 in trying circumstances.

"I don't think you can drop him. It's not fair to him. And he, like I said, he brings a left-handed dimension to the Indian top order," Gavaskar told India Today.

KL Rahul missed the first two games of the Asia Cup 2023 due to match fitness. But with India entering the Super Four stage, the wicketkeeper-batter is declared fit and could come in the team.