Indian Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar came down hard at India’s cricket team selectors for not including right-handed batsman Ajinkya Rahane in the T20 squad against Australia.
Rahane put up an impressive performance against Australia during the five-match ODI series, scoring four consecutive half-centuries. Questioning the selectors’ wisdom behind his exclusion and selection of KL Rahul who was also part of the ODI Indian squad against Australia but didn’t get to play in any game, the former Indian captain said they must explain the reason behind the move.
“The man who has scored four consecutive fifties, why is he not included in the team?" Gavaskar told NDTV.
"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," he added.
Rahane took the place of opener Shikhar Dhawan who was unavailable because of personal reasons, scored 5, 55, 70, 53 and 61 in five matches against Australia.
Rahane said he respects the selectors’ decision.
"Yes, so much cricket we play, the team management, selectors take a decision and we respect it,” he said.
He said the competition among players for a team berth gets the best out of them.
“Whoever gets a chance does well for the team. I have always enjoyed the competition," Rahane told reporters in Mumbai.
India will play three T20 matches against Australia on 7, 10 and 13 October.
India’s T20 team against Australia.
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.
