India decided to retain Rishabh Pant in the squad against New Zealand despite him not playing a single match in the three-match series against the Proteas. While Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill returned to the line-up after recovering from injuries, the Maharashtra captain was shown the door. However, Srikkanth believes that Gaikwad should have been named in the squad in place of all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.
“Maybe Ruturaj Gaikwad can say that I have played with Dhoni so that I can stay too. That is the only way he can be selected in the team. Shreyas Iyer is a certainty so he should have been there. But Ruturaj Gaikwad should have been in the 15. Instead of having Nitish Kumar Reddy, you can keep him in the 15,” Srikkanth told India Today.
The 1983 World Cup winner felt that Gaikwad’s omission shows that scoring an international century does not guarantee a place in the Indian team for future matches. Srikkanth said the right-handed batsman will have to return to domestic cricket and continue to score runs consistently.
“It means that even if you score a century, there is no chance. Now Gaikwad has to start all over again and score a mountain of runs because they will forget this century against South Africa. They have also dropped him, so he has to score big again in domestic cricket,” Srikkanth said.
Everyone is short on memory so they will soon forget: Srikkanth
Srikkanth said that while Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has been retained for the ODIs against New Zealand, will not make it into the playing XI, he is at least in the scheme of things. However, Gaikwad’s performance against South Africa could be quickly forgotten as he is not part of the squad.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal will also not be playing in the 11, but at least he will be in the reserves. So by being in the 15, at least he will be in the scheme of things. But with this selection, they have removed Ruturaj Gaikwad from the overall scheme and from the system itself. And if you are removed from the system itself, everyone including the public and the selectors will forget about him,” Srikkanth said.
“It’s very unfair. The whole idea of performing in an international match is lost. Such an effortless century is lost. Everyone has a memory deficit, so they will quickly forget it.”
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