With the India-Australia series concluding and IPL almost ready to begin, there are a few faces who will be under 'focus' or 'limelight' with some slots in the middle-order of the Indian batting line-up under scanner. Also, there is a race between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik to be the second wicket-keeper in the squad along with MS Dhoni.
Rishabh Pant's IPL coach Ricky Ponting has backed him to be the potential and most probable candidate to don the gloves after MS Dhoni retires.
"If he can win a couple of games for us (IPL side Delhi Capitals) then everything will be forgotten. I can't see anyone better than him as a second wicketkeeper in that Indian World Cup squad," Ponting said.
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Expecting some good knocks from Rishabh Pant, Ricky Ponting also mentioned the instance from the Mohali ODI against Australia when the young wicketkeeper was subjected to the chants of "Dhoni, Dhoni" and said that Pant was lucky that he got to play only 2 ODIs under such pressure as it would've been difficult for the young lad to play under constant pressure for five one-day internationals.
"I think it's actually a big job for me and the coaches when he comes in, to make him forget what's happened in the last few days. He's probably lucky it happened in the last couple of games. It would have been hard to play all five games under that kind of pressure. Now he's back in a competition where he has dominated in the past," Ponting said.
The other names which are trending to play at number four and five are those of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina if they perform exceptionally well in the IPL.