Former Indian Test opener Sadagopan Ramesh has slammed the team management for their inconsistency in selection after the three-match T20I series. The selectors and team’s think tank have backed Abhishek Sharma in the T20I team despite his low returns in the recent past.
Sharma managed only 11 runs in three games against Zimbabwe at an average of 3.66 whereas Sanju Samson was dropped from the side against England after three consecutive low scores.
On the other hand, it was earlier reported that Rohit Sharma could play his last ODI at Lord’s against England. However, the Indian veteran went on to score a majestic knock of 138 off 110 balls and thus put all the speculations to bed.
Ramesh highlighted that for players who are above 35 years of age, the selectors and team management seem to wait for one failure, to put them under pressure.
Sadagopan Ramesh said on his YouTube Channel, “The issue is with the selection parameters. It feels like the management wait for players under 25 to succeed. Whereas for those at 35 or more, they seem to wait for one failure. It’s clear that age is playing a major factor in selection. Even a consistent 35-year-old seems to be told to make way for an inconsistent 25-year-old.”
“Abhishek Sharma was the World’s No.1 ranked batter entering the T20 World Cup. But in 18 innings since, he averages only 18. He has only three half-centuries in this stretch, which is a major worry. Samson was extraordinary in the T20 World Cup, yet, dropped after just three failures. Similarly, there was also a high possibility of Rohit Sharma being dropped had he failed in the Lord’s ODI. In the meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma has silently had a massive slip.”
Meanwhile, Ramesh reckons a team of players aged more than 30 will emerge victorious against a younger team as the former will have experience.
“A T20 game between a team full of players above 30 and a team full of youngsters that the management feels is the future would be revealing. The first team would have Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. A three or five-match series would showcase consistency and the team with the 30+ players will surely emerge victorious,” said Ramesh (via the aforementioned source).
India will next take on Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series.
