Krishnamachari Srikkanth wasn’t happy with the selection of Shardul Thakur.© AFP
In the midst of the ongoing Asia Cup, captain Rohit Sharma and chairman of selection committee Ajit Agarkar named Team India’s 15-man squad for the upcoming ODI World Cup on home soil in Kandy. Rohit and Agarkar highlighted ‘balance and depth’ as the criteria behind the selection of India’s final 15 for the marquee event on home soil. Rohit, espeically, stressed on the need of having a big tail, which has been missing from the team over the past few years.
The selectors have picked four all-rounders and four pacers in the squad, apart from seven quality batters.
However, former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth wasn’t happy with the selection of Shardul Thakur in India’s final 15 for the World Cup.
Srikkanth suggested it is needless to pick a player who neither contributes much with the bat in white-ball cricket, and also doesn’t complete his quota of overs.
“Everyone is saying we need a batter at No. 8…who needs a batter at No. 8? Shardul Thakur is only scoring 10 there and he doesn’t even bowl for 10 overs. In the match against Nepal, how many overs did he bowl? 4 only. See, don’t see performances against sides like West Indies or Zimbabwe. Yes if he performs well, then keep that in the back of your mind, but don’t give importance to that. Instead stress on performances against teams like Australia or New Zealand. That is why I say, don’t get fooled by overall averages, always look at individual matches,” Srikkanth said during a discussion on Star Sports.
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India qualifier for the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup after beating Nepal in their final group match.
They will now take on Pakistan on Sunday, September 10.
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