Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin believes there will be no place for in-form Ishan Kishan in the ODI series against New Zealand. Kishan is part of the squad but Ashwin reckons it would be difficult for the left-hander to make the cut into the playing XI.
The southpaw has been in terrific form in the recent past and scored 61 runs off 32 balls in the final T20I against New Zealand.
However, Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are India’s top five batters in the ODI format and thus there is no place for Ishan Kishan.
“Where will he play? Unless you need a left-hander. Even then. The top three are settled. Shreyas plays at four. Shreyas or Gaikwad. There is KL. Then you will need an all-rounder. So there is no place for him, really. In the last 18 months, the way he has performed, he has been the cricketer of the country. No doubt. But in whose place will he play? There is a problem of plenty,” Ashwin said on ‘Ash ki Baat’.
Ashwin further highlighted the importance of backing players and maintaining stability within a team rather than making frequent changes based on public opinion or short-term performances.
“From the outside, we want to see many players in the team and talk about favoritism and a lot of other things. But it is not like that. The point is that the player will also have to keep that mentality to keep the environment of the team stuck together. If I remove Player A after two matches because Player X is doing very well and everyone wants him in, then I drop A and bring X in, and X does not perform, do I play A or X? Then both players will be disturbed, and they cannot perform well. Other players will also look at this and think it can happen to them.”
The first ODI between India and New Zealand will be played at Eden Park, Auckland, on Wednesday.
