Parthiv Patel Reveals The 1 Wicketkeeper India Will Take For T20 World Cup 2024

After claiming that Axar Patel has an extra edge over Ravindra Jadeja to get into India’s playing XI for the T20 World Cup in June, former wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel has stamped his approval on the selection of Maharashtra-born wicket-keeper batsman Jitesh Sharma who made his debut for the Indian team during the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.

Jitesh Sharma is among the 2 wicket-keepers picked in the Indian squad for the ongoing T20I series against Afghanistan with the other being Sanju Samson. Over a year ago, not many would have believed Jitesh to be selected ahead of Ishan Kishan who is currently looking far away from Team India’s plans.

After the Asian Games in which a complete B team had visited China, Jitesh Sharma received his first breakthrough when he replaced Kishan for the last two T20Is against Australia in November. In both matches, he batted well from the number 6 position, scoring a 19-ball 35 followed by a 16-ball 24 with a 150+ strike rate on both occasions.

Then he was also selected for the Indian team that went on a month-long tour of South Africa. He played 2 T20s there ahead of Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson both. And now in the home series, Jitesh has been able to hold on to his spot very well, doing a good job behind the stumps and also contributing effectively with the bat.

He might have got out for a 2 ball duck in the 2nd T20I due to his rash shot selection but that is something very rare to see. In the 1st T20, he made a decent contribution of 31 runs off 20 balls again with a 150+ strike rate. He will now have to convert these 30s into fifties shortly and he also needs to put up a good performance in the IPL to remain relevant in the T20 World Cup conversation.

“His Ticket To The World Cup Has Started Getting Printed Slightly”, Parthiv Patel Opines On Jitesh Sharma’s Chances

While discussing the role of Jitesh Sharma on Jio Cinema, Parthiv Patel claimed that due to the end number of options at the top order, the Indian team needs a wicket-keeper who can bat aggressively from the middle-order and Parthiv Patel feels that Jitesh Sharma has turned out to become a good option for that.

He also said that the management is doing a good thing by counting on Jitesh’s ability before stating that his World Cup ticket has almost been printed.

“There is sort of a traffic jam at the top (order) because you have Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is injured, and Shubman Gill who opened in the first match. So India’s option is probably to have a wicketkeeper who can bat down the order, you need a destructive batter. The way Jitesh Sharma is playing, he is a very good option and I feel his ticket to the World Cup has started getting printed slightly.” – Parthiv Patel said.

If we talk about Jitesh Sharma’s record in the domestic T20 circuit (Syed Mushtaq Ali) then he has scored 2303 runs in 106 matches for Vidarbha from the middle order with a strike rate of 149.06. With 5 months to go for the World Cup, will Jitesh Sharma be able to cut? Time will tell.