Pandya brothers’ exclusion from India squad a blessing in disguise: Gavaskar

05/24/2016

After the squads for the upcoming Zimbabwe and West Indies tours were announced, Sunil Gavaskar expressed his delight at the inclusion of players like Chahal and Shardul Thakur. Gavaskar also spoke on how the omission of the Pandya brothers could be a blessing in disguise for them.

"It is good to see performances being rewarded. It is not only about IPL. Chahal, the season he has played before, he has picked up wickets. He is another outstanding fielder," the former opener told NDTV.

"It is good to see performances in domestic cricket (being) rewarded. You can always argue that IPL is also a domestic tournament but for me events like Ranji trophy, (Syed) Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare, these performances should really matter when picking a national team."

The absence of Krunal and Hardik Pandya from the squads did however raise quite an eyebrow, but Gavaskar thinks it’s for their own good. "I think it is early days. I think the selectors have done the right thing, they want to see more of Krunal Pandya, they have seen Hardik. There is still little time for both of them. The more experienced they get, that will be better for them. You can't complain.

"Yeah, sometime you may feel stuck. IPL is a glamour tournament and lot of time people have been selected on basis of IPL and they were floundering in international cricket. It is a different ball game. So may be it is a blessing in disguise for Pandhya brothers."

The Test squad for the West Indies tour, however, did not throw up many surprises, except the inclusion of Shardul Thakur. "I don't think there was much opportunity to make too many changes in Test squad. In Tests, the core has to be there for a year or so and having done so well in the series against South Africa, there was not much chance to make changes.

"Because you are going so far away, sometimes the selectors take an extra player. It is good to see Shardul Thakur being rewarded for bowling his heart out for Mumbai in the entire season.

Also read: How Krunal Pandya has come out of his brother's shadow to establish himself as a star

"For the last couple of seasons, he has been amongst the leading wicket-taker for Mumbai and for the quick players, you need to pick them early before they start having fitness problems,” concluded Gavaskar.

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