'Go well man, we are rooting for you'- Fans ecstatic as Rahul Tripathi finally earns much-awaited India cap
Rahul Tripathi has replaced Sanju Samson who has been ruled out of the remainder of this series due to a knee injury.
India will be looking to seal the T20I series when they lock horns with Sri Lanka in the second game at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Thursday, January 5. Ahead of the upcoming fixture, Rahul Tripathi was handed his maiden India cap.
This is indeed a huge moment for Tripathi who has been waiting patiently in line despite being included in India’s T20I and white-ball squads for the last 7-8 months, but not getting a single game.
Notably, the 31-year-old has been one of the accomplished batters in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the domestic circuit over the last few years. Rahul Tripathi has come in place of Sanju Samson who has been ruled of the remainder of the series due to knee injury.
While the Indian team management found a specialist middle-order batter in Samson’s absence, they have transferred the wicketkeeping duties to Ishan Kishan as youngster Jitesh Sharma will have to wait another day for donning the gloves in India colors.
It now remains to be seen whether the Indian batting line-up will get a much-needed boost with Tripathi’s inclusion especially in the middle overs.
Since 2017, Rahul Tripathi has played for the likes of the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. In the 2022 season, he finished with 413 runs at an impressive strike rate of 158.24 for SRH.
Tripathi might have missed out on making the cut for India’s Asia Cup and T20 World Cup squads last year, but he would now be determined to find a place permanently in India’s T20I playing XI with an eye on the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, India skipper Hardik Pandya called it right at the toss and elected to bowl first. They head into this clash on the back of a narrow two-run victory in Mumbai a couple of days back.
Here’s how the fans reacted on Rahul Tripathi’s well-deserved international debut.
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