Former India captain Kapil Dev has expressed his disapproval for naming a replacement for injured Shubman Gill, citing the move would insult the current players in the touring party.
Indian opening batter Shubman Gill’s injury comes as a big setback for the Indian cricket team ahead of the upcoming Test series against England. The young batter suffered a shin stress injury in his leg and is set to miss the entire five-match series in England.
Gill has shown immense promise in his short career so far, playing a crucial role in India’s triumph in Australia. The 21-year-old scored a magnificent 91 in the fourth innings of Gabba Test against the likes of Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc. Gill’s unavailability, who was forming a solid opening partnership with Rohit Sharma, will be a big blow for India.
In Gill’s absence, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is looking to send Prithvi Shaw to England as a replacement. Shaw is currently on the tour of Sri Lanka with the second string team for a limited overs series. Former India captain Kapil Dev is not pleased by the whole thing as India already have a 20-member squad along with four reserves.
Dev said that the squad selectors have picked, would not have been done so without Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri’s consultation. It is important that they back the players from the same pool; otherwise, it doesn’t send a good message to the players.
“I don’t think there is any need for it. There should be some respect for the selectors too. They have picked a team and I’m sure it wouldn’t have happened without their (Shastri and Kohli) consultation,” Kapil opined on the ‘Waah Cricket’ show on ABP News.
India have two backup openers, Mayank Agarwal, who played three matches on the Australia tour and KL Rahul in the squad. They also have Abhimanyu Eswaran in the reserves. Dev backed Rahul and Agarwal to do the job as openers. He feels that bringing in another opener as a replacement is insulting for these players, who are already part of the squad.
“I mean, you have two such big opening batsmen in KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. Do you really need a third option? I don’t think it’s right. I’m not convinced with this theory. The team that they’ve picked already has openers so I think they should be the ones to play. Otherwise, it’s insulting for the players who are already in the team,”
he added
The legendary cricketer further asserted that the captain and coach should have a say in the selection process but not overrule the selectors’ decisions. Any such incident would be demeaning to the selectors’ job.
“I want that the captain and the management must have a say, but not at the expense of over-ruling the selectors and saying that ‘these are the players we need’. In that case, we don’t even need selectors. I am feeling a bit odd knowing that something like this has happened because if it has, it demeans the selectors and their role,”
Dev concluded.
The former India all-rounder Dev has scored over 9000 runs in international cricket along with 687 wickets. He was also the first Indian captain to lead the team to a World Cup trophy in 1983.
India’s five-match series will kickstart with the first Test at the Trent Bridge from August 4 before heading to the Lord’s for the second match starting August 12. The third and fourth Tests will be hosted at the Headingley and Kennington Oval. The series will conclude with the last game at Old Trafford from September 10.
