Former Indian cricketer criticizes team India’s selection policy, questions KL Rahul’s Inclusion

Ex-Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad has lashed out at the Indian cricket team’s recent selection policy in a series of posts on Twitter, saying that it was causing the team to underperform in limited-overs cricket.

Prasad, who played 33 Tests and 161 ODIs for India, voiced his displeasure after Indian captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that Shubman Gill would play as the second opener instead of Ishan Kishan in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Guwahati, to be played on Tuesday, January 10th.

“Think fair would have been to give chance to a man who scored a double hundred in India’s last ODI, and in a series where India lost two games and the series. Have all the time in the world for Gill, but no way you drop a player for scoring a double ton,” said Prasad. 

Prasad went on to highlight ‘’constant chopping changing’’ and retaining mediocrity while dropping “a guy who does brilliantly and is an X factor” as the reason why the team had been underperforming in limited-overs cricket. He cited KL Rahul’s inclusion in the side despite the Karnataka batsman’s sub-par performances of late as an example of the same.

“In Eng, Pant scored a hundred in the final ODI and helped India win the series. However based on T20 form was dropped from ODI team. KL Rahul on the other hand barring a couple of innings has failed consistently but retains his place. Performance is not the foremost parameter. Sad,” the 53-year-old added.

KL Rahul is set to play as the designated wicket-keeper in the playing eleven in the first ODI, with Shreyas Iyer also likely to replace world number one T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav in the playing eleven.