Sourav Ganguly
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is unhappy with the squad selection for the West Indies tour, citing that 'too few are playing in all formats'. The selectors announced the T20I, ODI and Test squads for India's tour of West Indies which saw a few new faces in the T20I squad.
The former captain said that selection is not about making 'all happy'. Ganguly was also surprised to see names of Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane missing from the ODI squad.
The 47-year-old took to Twitter to express his dejection on the selection.
"Time has come for Indian selectors to pick same players in all formats of the game for rhythm and confidence.. too few are playing in all formats ..great teams had consistent players ..it’s not about making all happy but picking the best for the country and be consistent..@bcci"
"There are many in the squad who can play all formats ..surprised not to see shubman gill ..Rahane in the one day squad.."
Barring captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, no other player features in all three formats for the tour. Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey were brought back to the ODI side after an impressive show in the India A vs West Indies A unofficial ODI series as the selectors continue to hunt for a No.4 batsman.
Gill has been in phenomenal form and scored 218 runs against West Indies A at an average of 54.50 and also won the Player of the Tournament trophy for his stellar show.
The 20-year-old also expressed his disappointment after finishing as the highest scorer in the West Indies A series.
"I was waiting for the Indian senior team to be announced on Sunday and I expected to be selected for at least one of the squads.
"It was disappointing not to get picked but I am not going to spend time thinking over it. I'll keep scoring runs and performing to the best of my ability to impress the selectors," Gill told CricketNext.
Gill's exclusion from the squad raised many eyebrows and fans on social media were also not happy with selectors decision.
Meanwhile, MSK Prasad also cleared his stance for not including Gill in India's squad of West Indies tour during the press conference on Sunday.
"Shubman Gill went to New Zealand when KL Rahul was suspended. Now he is in the waiting list. Definitely, he will be considered. He was there in the scheme of things.
"We have to reward the performances of India A. That's why we have picked them. The performances of Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer and Navdeep Saini's have been phenomenal," Prasad said.
(With PTI Inputs)
