Internet Desk: Legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the selectors for dropping Ajinkya Rahane before the T20I series against Australia.
Rahane hit four half-centuries in the recently concluded 5-match ODI series, but despite of his bright form the selectors decided to drop him from the T-20 squad, but surprisingly they have kept KL Rahul in the squad who hadn’t featured in a single match during the ODI series. Gavaskar looked very disappointed with this decision.
“The man (Rahane) who has scored four consecutive fifties, why is he not included in the team? KL Rahul is a fine player, but he didn’t play a single game in the five-one day matches against Australia, why is he in the team and Rahane who scored four half-centuries is not there,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by NDTV.
This is not the first time that Gavaskar talked in favour of Rahane. During the ODI series in Sri Lanka last month, he also took a dig at the selectors.
“It looks like all the nice guys are being left out and they should start getting a different hair style and some body art done too to get picked in the team. Rahul got yet another chance while the top scorer of the just-concluded One-day series in the West Indies – Ajinkya Rahane – sat out once again.” Gavaskar wrote in a column for a leading daily.
On the other hand, when Rahane was asked regarding the same, he said that he respects the decision taken by the team management and the selectors.
“Yes, so much cricket we play, the team management, selectors take a decision and we respect it. It (competition) is necessary and it helps you to give your best performance. Whoever gets a chance does well for the team. I have always enjoyed the competition,” Rahane told reporters.
India will play three T20Is against Australia, with the first match set to be played in Ranchi on Saturday.
Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt),Rohit Sharma(VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni(wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Axar Patel.