During the ongoing Asia Cup, Captain Rohit Sharma and Chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, unveiled India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming ODI World Cup in Kandy. They emphasized the importance of ‘balance and depth’ in the squad selection for this prestigious home soil tournament. Rohit specifically highlighted the necessity of a strong lower-order batting lineup, which has been lacking in recent years.
The selectors have chosen four all-rounders and four pacers, complemented by seven high-quality batsmen. However, former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth expressed his discontent with the inclusion of Shardul Thakur in the final 15 for the World Cup.
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Srikkanth argued that it’s unnecessary to select a player who doesn’t significantly contribute with the bat in white-ball cricket and doesn’t complete his allotted 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 on Star Sports.