After BCCI announced India’s 15-member squad for the ODI World Cup yesterday, Kris Srikkanth has raised his doubts on the issue.
Many players have been left out of the squad while those that have been picked are not getting the likes of fans.
Moreover, the selectors have also put in Shardul Thakur so that he can be of assistance to vice-captain, Hardik Pandya.
Thakur has been added as a fast-bowling all-rounder to the squad but former cricketers are not liking this choice.
Former cricketer and 1983 World Cup winner, Kris Srikkanth has blasted BCCI’s selectors for choosing Shardul over a specialist bowler.
He has stated that Shardul rarely bats well and isn’t even allowed to complete his full quota of overs during games.
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 ten 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 and New Zealand. That is why I say, don’t get fooled by overall averages, always look at individual matches.
Srikkanth backs his argument with the example of the 2011 ODI World Cup
Further strengthening his argument, Srikkanth took the example of the reserve players in the 2011 ODI World Cup.
Look at the 2011 World Cup squad. Shall I say who were the reserves? There were two spinners- R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla and one medium pacer in Munaf Patel, along with one batter in Yusuf Pathan.
Talking about Shardul’s stats in ODIs this year, he has played 9 ODIs and has picked up 15 wickets. However, he has had a poor run with the bat as he has scored 48 runs with an average of 9.60 and a strike rate of 97.95.
Follow Crickdom on Twitter for more.
For more cricket updates, make sure to follow us on:
