Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has come down heavy on former chief selector MSK Prasad and said that his ‘3D’ comment after omission of Ambati Rayudu from 2019 World Squad was not in sync with his position.
Gautam Gambhir, MSK Prasad and Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who were in conversation on Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’, were talking about the selection criteria in Team India.
The former Delhi batsman said that selectors don’t communicate properly and the players don’t get to know what happened with their careers all of a sudden. Gambhir brought forward his own example and said nobody talked to him after he was dropped in 2016 in the England Test series.
“When I was dropped after the 1st Test against England in 2016, there was no communication. You look at Karun Nair who has said there is no clarity given to him. You look at Yuvraj Singh… you look at Suresh Raina,” Gambhir said.
Gautam Gambhir gave the major burn to MSK Prasad when he brought up the issue of Ambati Rayudu’s omission from the World Cup squad. Rayudu, was being seen as India’s number 4 batsman in the World Cup and was being prepared for the same but surprisingly he was dropped on the selection day and an inexperienced Vijay Shankar was included on his place.
Later, in the press conference MSK Prasad gave the famous reason behind Rayudu’s omission and said that Vijay Shankar brings the ‘3D’ aspect in the team with his batting, bowling and fielding and so he made his cut ahead of senior pro Rayudu.
“Look at what happened to Ambati Rayudu — you picked him for two years. Two years he batted at number four. And just before the World Cup, you needed a 3-D? Is that the kind of statement you want to see from a chairman of selectors that we need a 3-D cricketer?” Gambhir asked MSK Prasad.
MSK Prasad defended himself by saying that the team lacked a seam bowling all-rounder in the English condition and so Vijay Shankar was sent with the team which reached the semifinals stage of the tournament.
“At the top (of the line-up), everyone was a batsman — Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, there was nobody who could bowl. And someone like Vijay Shankar, who bats at the top-order, could be helpful with the ball in the English conditions,” said Prasad.
Prasad added that Vijay Shankar”s domestic records were impressive and he got picked based on that as well. To this, former chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who was also part of the discussion, pointed towards the gap between international and domestic cricket.
“Not supporting Gautam or belittling you MSK but there is a huge difference between international cricket and domestic cricket,” said Srikkanth.
MSK Prasad was simply cornered and gave a very absurd comment followed from him.
“I agree with Chika that there is a difference but you also have to understand that experience cannot be the only parameter all the time (for selecting players). You may miss out on many players in the process,” MSK responded.
