MSK Prasad clears the air on India's wicketkeeping conundrum ahead of World Cup

The skills of Indian wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni has been on a wane and he is nothing, but a pale shadow of his glorious past. His attributes with the gloves have been decent, but he hasn’t been able to deliver consistent performances with the bat in hand. Things worsened to such an extent that he was once booed by the crowd at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Quite expectantly, questions have been raised surrounding his position in the team. The World Cup is scheduled to take place from May 30 in England and Wales, and there have been a lot of discussions about who should be the keeper. In the meantime, MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors, mentioned that Dhoni remains to be their first-choice wicketkeeper.

There is no ambiguity about who our first wicketkeeper is

He also remarked that they want to give Rishabh Pant an opportunity and then come to a conclusion on their backup keeper. The Uttarakhand-born cricketer has already played T20Is and Test cricket but is yet to don the jersey in the 50-overs format.

“There is no ambiguity about who our first wicketkeeper is (Dhoni). We are looking out for the second keeper ahead of World Cup. We gave chances to Karthik, now we want to see Rishabh Pant. Then we will take a call,” Prasad was quoted as saying in ABP News.

India recently announced their 14-man ODI squad against Windies and Pant found his way into the national team for the five-match series. Tamil Nadu-born Dinesh Karthik, who has been playing since India’s limited-overs series against England, has been left out.

Pant scored his maiden Test century against the Three Lions at Kennington Oval in London and then followed it up with a 92 against the Windies in Rajkot. The first match of the ODI series will be played on October 21 at Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati.

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