Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth has questioned the selectors and team management for picking Suryavansh Shedge in India’s T20I team. Shedge was added to the squad for the UK tour after Nitish Kumar Reddy was ruled out with an injury.
The Mumbai all-rounder made his T20I debut against Ireland but failed to impress with both bat and ball. The youngster received his second opportunity in the final game of the series against England but he conceded 39 runs in three overs he bowled and went wicketless.
Shedge was dismissed after scoring seven runs off six deliveries and thus also could not deliver with the bat.
However, Shedge had impressed with his consistent performances for India A in the tri series against Afghanistan A and Sri Lanka A. The right-hander had scored 147 runs in five matches at an average of 36.75.
Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “This is the guy they are trying to brand as Hardik Pandya’s replacement. He has clearly been picked out of the Mumbai and Punjab Kings quota. He has done nothing substantial in the IPL and rarely even bowls. Scoring the odd 30, even I’ll do at my age. He is selected because Shreyas Iyer is the Mumbai and Punjab Kings captain and Ajit Agarkar is the selector from Mumbai.”
“He is getting promoted as an all-rounder. The military medium pace that he is bowling, even with my terrible eyesight at 66, I’ll smash him. Players like Shedge should be in the shed. He has been named correctly as Shedge as he should be in the shed. You can’t be picking players on quota. He can’t bat or bowl and is a liability even on the field.”
The 1983 World Cup-winning players urged selectors to give chances to players like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Mohsin Khan and Gurnoor Brar instead of Shedge and Shivam Dube.
“Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Mohsin Khan and maybe Gurnoor Brar can come in. Instead of playing guys like Shedge and Dube, multiple others can be given chances. Why is Rajat Patidar not being picked? What wrong did he do? Won’t he hit that six Dube hits? He can hit much bigger and better than Dube against spin and pace. Dube can do nothing against pace,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).
India and England will next take on each other in a three-match ODI series, starting Tuesday at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
