Rishabh Pant included in India A squad for four-day matches in England

India A under Karun Nair’s captaincy will play a couple practice matches four-day games with West Indies A before locking horns with England Lions for one-off match starting on July 16.

India A squad: Karun Nair (Captain), R Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari, Ankit Bawne, Vijay Shankar, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Ankit Rajpoot, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Rajneesh Gurbani, Rishabh Pant

The national selectors will keep a close watch on Pant and if he can put up a good show in those three matches, there no reason why he cannot be inducted into the Indian Test side for five-match Test series starting from August 1.

The one-day matches did not go according to Pant’s plans, he has scored just one half-century in the tournament involving England lions and West Indies A.

However, his batting prowess and abilities to change the course of a match with fearless batting holds a step above the rest.

Pant, who is currently with the India A side for the limited overs tri-series in England, has been asked to stay back for the four-day matches as well.

Does that mean, there is only a two-way battle between Dhoni and Karthik for the keeper’s slot? Not by any means.

Delhi’s Rishabh Pant is not far away and his selection in India A team for the four-day matches is clear indication that he is very much in the scheme of things as far as the Indian senior team is concerned.

Who will replace Dhoni when he retires? The question doesn’t seem that uncomfortable as it used to even two years ago. In fact, it is no longer a concern thanks to a roaring comeback into international cricket by Dinesh Karthik and some breath-taking knocks in the IPL and domestic cricket by Rishabh Pant.

Karthik donned the gloves, replacing Dhoni and there is a high possibility of him playing as a batsman even if Dhoni plays as a keeper in the three-match T20I series against England starting Tuesday.

The pressure created by India’s reserve wicket-keepers is so intense that India rested a fully fit MS Dhoni for the first time in his career against Ireland in the 2nd T20I.