While Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav were dropped from India’s squad from the WTC Final for the upcoming 2-Test series in West Indies, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar hinted that the selectors could also have excluded the “big boys” as well to give more youngsters opportunity at Test cricket and build the next set of players.
Sunil Gavaskar asserted that since the West Indies team, with all due respect, aren’t really a threatening unit anymore, and could be defeated even at home by a part-second-string Indian team, this tour presented an opportunity to exclude other seniors as well. And while he didn’t name anyone in particular, it was clear that Gavaskar was indicating toward the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ajinkya Rahane.
“There was a very good chance to try and look at the next rung of cricketers. Because if there was any tour where you could have made some sort of experiments then it was the West Indies. They are not the same force anymore. Therefore, blooding in the younger players would have been the right way,” Gavaskar told Sports Today.
Sunil Gavaskar makes indirect comment on Virat Kohli
Only Mohammed Shami has given been given a rest from the entire tour.
“The WTC is gone, we missed out there but the next big thing is the ODI World Cup. I would have preferred the big boys to be given a complete break from Test cricket. Look at only the 50-over format and maybe T20s too as it is the abbreviated version. I would have only wanted them to focus on white-ball cricket.
“They have been playing non-stop cricket since October-November last year. And apart from injury breaks, they have not really got long breaks. So give them a complete break from red-ball cricket. The certainties who would be playing the 50-over World Cup. You have given Shami a break so maybe the others too,” Gavaskar said.
The commentator pointed out that inexperienced players should be kept ready, and that would happen only when seniors are not occupying spaces in the team on tours like this of West Indies.
“This tour of the West Indies is not going to tell us anything new about the established players. Whether they will be there two years down the line for the WTC final, I don’t know. So a wonderful opportunity was missed,” Gavaskar added.
