Ajay Jadeja Picks His First Choice Team India Opener And Wicketkeeper For Sri Lanka Series

Team India is all set to lock horns with Sri Lanka in three ODIs and as many T2oIs later this month with a squad that consists of a whole host of youngsters.

With senior players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja currently in England, the selectors have selected a plethora of young talent in the squad which will be led by veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan.

But with six games at their disposal, it is unlikely that the Rahul Dravid-led management will be able to give chances to every player in the squad, something that Dravid himself admitted before the team’s departure to Sri Lanka.

As far as opening is concerned, there are three options in the form of Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad to partner Dhawan. While Shaw is ahead in the pegging order, the management will be tempted to try out the likes of Gaikwad and Padikkal.

However, former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja believes that the choice of openers totally depends on what the management wants, and what they want in the future.

Jadeja, however, picked Devdutt Padikkal as his choice to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan.

‘’These players are the future of Indian team. Here, it is not the question of captain’s choice, but how the management looks at the tour. It all depends on the guys who run the team. The selectors and Dravid will make the call. It is a tough decision to make between all players, but my choice is Padikkal,’’ said Ajay Jadeja during a media interaction.

As far as wicketkeeping is concerned, there are two contenders in the form of Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson.

Ajay Jadeja admitted that there is no match to Sanju Samson when he gets going but given the fact that the Kerala cricketer lacks consistency, the former cricketer went with the Jharkhand and Mumbai Indians swashbuckler, Ishan Kishan.

”Ishan Kishan is my keep’s choice, purely on basis of batting. Keeping is not that important in limited-overs cricket. There is no match to Smason when he gets going, but what we are looking at is consistency, and Kishan picks himself ahead of Samson on that ground,”  said Ajay Jadeja.

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