The Indian team for the ODI series against New Zealand has been announced, with the biggest snub the exclusion of KL Rahul.
Team management has handled Rahul’s limted overs career strangely.
While Rohit Sharma missed the Sri Lanka ODI series, the Indian thinktank pushed Rahul to number four, instead of his regular opening slot. Making a comeback from injury, Rahul failed in the few games he played and did not feature against Australian in either the recent ODI or T20 series.
India’s captain and coach promised to try out youngsters in preparation for the 2019 World Cup, but the teams for the last few ODI series have by and large remained the same.
The pace bowling attack has mostly remained with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jaspreet Bumrah, with the spinners likewise similar. The batting order has seen some changes, but no new names. The selectors have also recalled Dinesh Karthik for the home series against New Zealand and while he has done well in the domestic competitions, his selection sticks out like a sore thumb.
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If the ODI team is being selected with the World Cup in mind, Rishabh Pant should have been selected as MS Dhoni’s backup, but he’s seemingly out of favour.
The selection of Shradul Thakur is a good one, but why the youngster was dropped for the last ODI series is a mystery. Mohammed Shami has been India’s best ODI pacer over last few years, but has been discarded from the format.
Once again, the selection committee has shown no imagination in preparing adequate bench strength ahead of the 2019 World Cup. Rahul will be extremely disappointed – as he should be. He is a good young player and has done extremely well with the limited opportunities he has received. The decision to drop him is unfair.
The Indian team taking on New Zealand for the three ODI matches might win the series, but the selectors have once again missed a golden opportunity to blood young talent. This time though, they have dropped one of India’s best limited-overs talents.
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