He may be one of the finest young batters in India at the moment, however Ruturaj Gaikwad continues to get overlooked by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee when it comes to selecting the squad for important Tests.
Despite scoring runs on a regular basis in domestic cricket, be it in white-ball cricket or red-ball, Ruturaj hasn’t been able to earn the selectors’ trust. After the batter wasn’t given a chance in the Bangladesh T20I series, speculations emerged that the selection committee plans to give him opportunities in red-ball cricket.
But when the BCCI recently announced the Indian squad for the Border-Gavaskar series, Gaikwad’s name was again nowhere to be found.
Seeing Gaikwad being snubbed yet again, former Indian cricketer Krisnamachari Srikkanth lost his cool and went on an epic rant, targeting the selection committee for always ignoring the young Indian batter.
“I don’t understand it at all. When they say that Mayank Yadav bowled for a few overs and now he has also become unfit like Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag. See, for Ruturaj, I don’t understand at all. Poor fellow! What will he do? If he scores a century, then they can take him back into the T20I squad, right? He scored two first-class centuries, but still didn’t get a chance. He got scores to back him up. Where should that guy be going now?”, Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
The selection committee gave Abhimanyu Easwaran, a player who scored 4 centuries in consecutive domestic matches, the nod for Australia tour. While Srikkanth isn’t against Easwaran’s selection, he questioned the logic behind not giving a chance to Gaikwad.
“Abhimanyu Easwaran’s performance has been brilliant. I’m not questioning that. But what are you doing with Ruturaj? Why aren’t they twirling around with him? What’s the plan? Let them do what they want with him. Just look at the mindset of that kid and tell me what he should be doing in this match against you guys. He keeps on hitting the opponents all day long, but then, when it comes to international cricket, you leave him behind. And when they give him a chance, it’s for the Rest of India or India A,” Srikkanth said.
Gaikwad was instead named as the skipper of the 15-member India A squad for the upcoming Australia tour. It would be interesting to see if Gaikwad will finally be able to get a place in the Test squad if he gives solid performances for the India A side.
