Ruturaj Gaikwad. (Photo Source: X/Twitter)
Former India opener and selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth recently expressed strong disapproval of the national selection committee’s decision to exclude Ruturaj Gaikwad from both upcoming international assignments, the T20I series against South Africa and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
The young opener currently ranks as the third-highest Indian batter in the T20I rankings behind Suryakumar Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Despite being appointed captain of the India A side touring Australia and being in great form in domestic cricket, Gaikwad has been overlooked for both senior teams.
“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.
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He keeps on hitting the opponents all day long: Krishnamachari Srikkanth
Earlier some reports claimed that Gaikwad was in contention as a backup opener for the Australia Test series, particularly with captain Rohit Sharma likely to miss some early matches due to personal commitments. However, the spot eventually went to Abhimanyu Easwaran. While acknowledging Easwaran’s form, Srikkanth raised valid concerns about the impact on Gaikwad’s development.
“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,” Srikkanth added.
After an impressive T20I series against Zimbabwe that made him enter into the world’s top 10 ranked batters, he was left out of the Bangladesh series, to prepare for the Border-Gavaskar series. Srikkanth also mentioned about Gaikwad’s utilization in international cricket.
“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,” the former concluded.