Cricket in India is not just a sport; it’s a religion followed by millions of fans. The World Cup is a pinnacle event in this cricket-crazy nation, and the selection of the national squad is a matter of great scrutiny and debate. However, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel have made some questionable choices for the World Cup 2023 squad, leaving fans and experts baffled. In this article, we will discuss three bad selection decisions by Ajit Agarkar led the selection panel
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Picking Suryakumar Yadav but ignoring Sanju Samson
Suryakumar Yadav is without a doubt a great player for India in T20. Since his debut, he has impressed with his bat, but he has consistently failed in longer formats as well. Since his ODI debut, he has played 24 innings and scored 511 runs at an average of 24.33, with only two half-centuries. In his 10 innings this year, he scored 127 runs at his lowest average of 14.11, while wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson impressed almost every time he played in this format. In 12 innings, he scored 390 runs at an average of 55.71, and this year, he only had two chances, scoring a fifty in one of them.
Choosing a player who has consistently performed poorly in a format and ignoring a player who has performed decently whenever he gets a chance does not appear fair and does affect the player’s mentality. However, having many wicketkeepers in the team will undoubtedly influence the selection.
2. Axar Patel over Yuzvendra Chahal
After the announcement of world cup 2023 squad this was clear that selectors wanted a spin bowler which could bat also that’s why Axar Patel’s name was in the bucket list but there is a question which arise after analyzing the squad that if Ravindra Jadeja will play what’s the point of having Axar Patel in the Team although both are left arm finger spinner with skills of batting. This world cup is taking place in India where we see lot of turning tracks and with having just one proper spinner when we are slightly weak in fast bowling compare to other big teams how team India is going to dominate with the batters only.
If we talk about Yuzvendra Chahal he is always being a promising bowler for the captain, this year he only played 2 ODI innings where he took 3 wickets which is same for Axar Patel in 6 innings.
3. Ignoring experienced Shikhar Dhawan over young bloods
After being the consistent performer in the limited over format as an Indian Opener now Shikhar dhawan has been ignored from the upcoming World cup 2023 Squad. No doubt new openers like Shubhman gill and Ishan Kishan are extremely talented kids but having them in the big event like World Cup over Shikhar Dhawan who has excellent record in ICC events doesn’t seem right. Shikhar Dhawan is one of kind player for Indian team who always performed well in big matches.
Shikhar has already lost his place in the Indian team because of the heavy options for openers and if we don’t conclude these young players selectors still choose KL Rahul over Shikhar Dhawan, whereas KL doesn’t have that impressive records in ICC tournaments.