Former pacer and chief selector Venkatesh Prasad has slammed India's team selection and said players must be selected on form and not on reputation.
The Karnataka cricketer’s remarks come amidst the growing clamour over the inclusion of Virat Kohli in the India team despite poor form.
Prasad too highlighted how big players, who went through a dip in form, went back to domestic cricket and worked on their game.
Focus on the game
“There was a time when if you were out of form, you would be dropped irrespective of reputation. Sourav (Ganguly), (Virender) Sehwag, Yuvraj (Singh), Zaheer (Khan) and Harbhajan Singh all have been dropped when not in form. They went back to domestic cricket, scored runs and staged a comeback,” Prasad tweeted.
The former India coach said even the great Anil Kumble dropped himself when not in form and urged BCCI to take action.
Change in yardsticks
“The yardsticks seem to have changed drastically now, where there is rest for being out of form. This is no way for progress. There is so much talent in the country and cannot play on reputation. One of India’s greatest match-winner, Anil Kumble sat out on so many occasions, need action’s for the larger good,” he added.
Kohli could manage scores of only 11 and 20 in fifth and final Test against Edgbaston and continued his bad performances in T20Is, where he could score only 12 runs in two innings.
Also, Kohli had a sub-par IPL 2022, in which he could score only 341 runs in 16 games at an average of 22.73 and a sub-par strike rate of 115.98. He could score only two half-centuries in the tournament.
Kohli has not fared very well in Blue this year either, scoring only 142 runs with two fifties in six ODI innings and 81 runs across 4 T20I innings with one fifty.
Team India will be squaring off against the West Indies for a three-match ODI series and five-match T20I series, from July 22. Currently, the Men in Blue are facing England in the multi-format series, with the last match to be played on July 17.
