Ruturaj Gaikwad might have to convince the selectors that he can keep wickets in order to regain his place in the Indian squad, former captain Kris Srikkanth quipped. Despite hitting a century against South Africa in his last 50-over innings, Ruturaj was one of the unexpected exclusions from the ODI squad for the series against New Zealand.
However, as Shreyas Iyer recovered, the Maharashtra batsman was benched, and Rishabh Pant was kept in the team even though he hadn’t played a game against the Proteas. Srikkanth jokingly suggested that Ruturaj go before the selection committee and say that since he has played with MS Dhoni, he could put on the gloves. The previous selector claimed that the captain of CSK should have been kept in the squad rather than Nitish Kumar Reddy.
“Maybe Ruturaj Gaikwad can say I’ve played with Dhoni so I can also keep. That’s the only way he might get selected in the team. Shreyas Iyer is a certainty, so he should have been included. But Ruturaj Gaikwad should have been in the 15. Instead of having Nitish Kumar Reddy, keep him in the 15,” said Srikkanth.
Ruturaj’s absence, according to the previous selector, indicates that even if you score a hundred, you have no chance of making the team. Ruturaj will now need to score runs on the domestic circuit in order to return to contention, according to Srikkanth.
“It’s saying even if you score a century, there is no chance. Now Gaikwad has to start from scratch and score a mountain of runs because they’ll forget this century against South Africa. They’ve dropped him also so he has to score big again in domestic cricket,” said Srikkanth.
According to Srikkanth, Ruturaj would still have been a part of the Indian team if he had been included in the squad. However, the former selector believes that he will gradually be forgotten as a result of the omission.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal also won’t play in the 11 but at least he’s in the reserves. So by being in the 15, he will at least be in the scheme of things. But with this selection, they’ve removed Ruturaj Gaikwad from the overall scheme of things and from the system itself. And when you’re removed from the system itself, everyone, including the public and the selectors, will forget about him,” said Srikkanth.
“It’s very unfair. The whole idea of performance in an international match goes to waste. An effortless century like that is going to waste. Memory is short for everybody, so they’ll forget it soon.”
The ODI series between India and New Zealand will begin on January 11.
