Former Indian chairman of selectors and commentator Kris Srikkanth has stated that young players should have received a chance in the Indian T20I squad for the forthcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth claimed that the series defeats in Ireland and England have led the selectors to not take any chances in selecting a depleted squad for the upcoming series.
“After the series losses in Ireland and England, the selectors have decided not to take a chance and picked a full-strength squad for Afghanistan. They are going all guns blazing, but this is a mistake. It’s against teams like Afghanistan that you should try out youngsters. Instead, you’ve picked a full-strength squad out of fear,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
“It feels like a desperate move after the Ireland and England losses. But this squad is almost the same as the one they picked for England,” he added.
On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Washington Sundar have been selected in the squad, with a subject-to-fitness asterisk. Srikkanth questioned how Harshit returned from injury in England and again got injured.
“These four have not proved match-fitness. So on what basis are they subject to fitness? Just because you prove your fitness at the Bengaluru CoE, are you fit? That’s how Harshit Rana went to England, and then what happened to him there? So match-fitness is important,” he stated.
“This is not a question of ability. Harshit Rana has proved to be a very good bowler in T20s, and Nitish Kumar Reddy is brilliant in the short format. But why pick them without match-fitness being proven is the question,” he noted.
India’s squad: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*
NOTE: *Subject to fitness clearance
