File image of Shahrukh Khan from Tamil Nadu.© Twitter
Rising T20 sensation M Shahrukh Khan and his fellow countryman, Orthodox left-arm spinner Ravi Srinivas Sai Kishore, will join the Indian whiteball team as reserve players for the upcoming six-game run against the West Indies. Both Shahrukh and Sai Kishore played a big part in Tamil Nadu’s victorious campaign and their appeal is more of a precautionary measure in times of COVID-19 when a main team player is likely to test positive. “Yes, Shahrukh and Sai Kishore have been called on standby for the Windies series. They will also enter the bubble with the main team players,” a senior BCCI official confirmed to PTI.
The limited overs series kicks off in Ahmedabad with a three-match ODI rubber, followed by three T20 Internationals in Kolkata.
For Sai Kishore, this is the second chance in an Indian team lineup after being part of the net bowlers group last year on a tour of Sri Lanka under Rahul Dravid.
Shahrukh, who has been battling for the main squad, has been in the news this season for scoring points in critical stages, including a final six against Karnataka, to win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final.
It was the same match in which his colleague Sai Kishore took three wickets.
Likewise, against the same opponents in the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he hit 79 from 39 balls and his contribution in the final against HP was 42 from 21 balls.
promoted
While he may have to wait his turn if head coach Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma give plenty of chances to the men above him in the pecking order of finishers, he could seize an opportunity when the big guns are outfitted as the season progresses.
Ditto for Sai Kishore, who will join in more like a net bowler with Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel in the set-up.
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