India ODI skipper Shubman Gill had earlier copped a blow in the nets, but his availablity was confirmed by Kotak, who said that the batter was “Good to go.”
This means that Yashasvi Jaiswal also a part of the squad, might have to sit out. The left-handed batter scored a century in his last ODI outing against Afghanistan, but hasn’t featured in an ODI since.
To Kotak, with the experience of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli already filling up the top-order, Jaiswal’s wait was a part-and-parcel of competitive sport.
“I think there is so much competition and so many players are performing. Jaiswal is one of the best and whenever he gets an opportunity, he performs. So he is part of the team. But sometimes you see, say there are three very good wicketkeepers in a team; only one will play.
“So it is not that somebody has been unfair to him [Jaiswal]. I just think it is part of the game. He should keep working hard and wait for his opportunity. And so far, whenever the team needed him, he has performed.
“But I think we do look after his skills and his practice. We follow up on where he is, how he is doing and when he is with the team. That’s all we can do and that’s what we do.”
Series schedule
1st ODI – 27 September, Thiruvananthapuram
2nd ODI – 30 September, Guwahati
3rd ODI – 3 October, New Chandigarh
1st T20I – 6 October, Lucknow
2nd T20I – 9 October, Ranchi
3rd T20I – 11 October, Indore
4th T20I – 14 October, Hyderabad
5th T20I – 17 October, Bengaluru