India have announced the squads for their tour to West Indies in which they will play three T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests. As expected, former India captain MS Dhoni has not been named for the tour and Rishabh Pant has been named the wicketkeeper.
Dhoni, who has already retired from Tests, had made himself unavailable for the tour and told the selectors that he will be training with the Territorial Army for the next two months.
Chief selector MSK Prasad confirmed this on Sunday during the press conference after the selection meeting on Sunday. He said that the management is thinking of giving Pant more chances.
“Dhoni is unavailable for this series but we had certain roadmaps and plans till the World Cup,” Prasad said.
“Subsequently, we’ve laid down a few more plans and thought of giving as many opportunities to Pant and to see how he is groomed. We did discuss it with Dhoni. This is our plan right now.”
Prasad, however, ruled out that this was the end of the road for Dhoni.
“I can’t answer. It’s totally up to him,” he said. “Retirement is totally individual and a legend like Dhoni knows when to retire. But as the selection committee, we have to make roadmap, so we started to give the chances to youngsters like Pant.”
But Pant will have to fight for his spot in the Test team as the selectors have named Wriddhiman Saha in the squad. Saha is clearly the better keeper and as a result, there is no clarity about who the first-choice wicketkeeper will be for the Tests.
The Delhi wicketkeeper may get a look-in ahead of Saha as Prasad praised his record in Australia and England.
“Pant has not done anything wrong for his non-inclusion. We know he’s the only wicketkeeper to get a 100 in England and then in Australia. Pant will play in all formats but we have to manage his workload,” Prasad said.
Pant had scored 162 runs in six innings in England including a century in the second innings of the fifth Test. He later repeated the feat against Australia in the fourth Test. In the seven innings against Australia, Pant scored 350 runs.
Saha has been out of action for the national team since January 2018. He played his last Test against South Africa before injuring his shoulder.