Former Selector Sarandeep Singh Slams BCCI For Dropping Prithvi Shaw From England Tour

Former national selector Sarandeep Singh, on Saturday expressed his disappointment at the exclusion of the young India opener Prithvi Shaw from squad for the ICC World Test Championship final and the England series.

India and New Zealand will lock horns in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship against New Zealand in Southampton. Sarandeep Singh feels that Prithvi Shaw could have given India the brisk starts they required and should have received the nod.

Shaw played 3 Tests last year, scoring just 102 runs at an average of 17 before getting dropped from the red-ball squad.

Prithvi Shaw Has Potential To Do What Sehwag Did For India: Sarandeep Singh

Sarandeep Singh, who’s tenure as the BCCI national selector ended after India’s tour of Australia in January this year, criticised the current panel’s decision to drop the talented Shaw who he feels “has the potential to do what Virender Sehwag did for India”.

“He has the potential to do what Sehwag did for India. You can’t sideline him so early in his career. He has scored tons of runs in domestic cricket after being dropped post Australia tour. He has corrected his technical flaws also and look how he played in the IPL.

“You have to back a talent like Shaw and even someone like Shubman Gill (he is in the team but did not gets runs against England at home) for that matter,” Sarandeep told PTI.

Here it is to be noted that BCCI’s 20-man squad has four opening batsmen in KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill. Of those, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma are likely to open in the World Test Championship final and the subsequent five-match Test series against England. The Indian team will depart for England on the first week of June.

If Hardik Doesn’t Bowl, It Disturbs The Balance’: Sarandeep Singh

The former India left-arm spinner though, agreed with the BCCI’s decision to ignore Hardik Pandya in the 20-member squad for the WTC finals and England tour. He felt that Hardik could not have been added to the squad without being used as a bowler.

“The selectors’ decision to ignore Hardik for Tests is understandable. He has not been able bowl regularly after his surgery. I feel he has to bowl 10 overs in ODIs and four in T20s to be part of the playing XI even in shorter formats. He can’t just play as a batsman.

“If Hardik doesn’t bowl, it disturbs the balance of the side hugely. You have to play an extra bowler because of that and someone like Surykumar Yadav has to miss out. As we saw in the ODI series against England and Australia, we can’t play with five bowling options.

He talked about the number of options Team India have for the all-rounders’ spots.

“Then team now has other all-rounders in Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Jaddu is back, Shardul Thakur can also be an all-rounder, he has shown that. They all can do the job if Hardik can’t bowl,” Sarandeep said.