Rahane and Ishant have not been included in the squad for the upcoming Test against England.
While Cheteshwar Pujara has earned a callback to the Indian squad for the rescheduled Test against England in July, Ajinkya Rahane will miss out due to a hamstring injury, which is what got him ruled out from the last few matches of IPL 2022.
Rahane was dropped from the team after the Test series loss in South Africa. His poor form continued in the IPL 2022, where he collected just 133 runs in seven games for Kolkata Knight Riders.
India will go all out in the crucial Test against England under the leadership of India’s all-format captain, Rohit Sharma.
However, Rahane's return to the squad is still not clear, as the seasoned batter said he needs 6-8 weeks to recover fully from the injury.
Along with Rahane, veteran pacer Ishant Sharma was also absent from the traveling 17-member Test squad.
With questions arising over the duo’s inclusion in the Test, Brad Hogg opined that the selectors should now offer more chances to younger players. The former Australian spinner also backed the exclusion of Rahane and Ishant from the team for the Test against England.
"I think it's great that the selectors have dropped Rahane and Ishant Sharma from the Test team. They have been ageing and haven't been performing of late. You need to get the youth in and rotate them so that they get to experience alongside those who are already experienced," Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
Hogg further praised Shreyas Iyer, saying that the skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders will grow as a Test batter by batting alongside Virat Kohli. He also emphasized the entry of Prasidh Krishna to the pace-bowling camp, alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami.
"Iyer is going to spend a number of years batting alongside Kohli, learning the game for the longer form and being able to develop a game plan where he is going to succeed. And then you've got Krishna, who will be coming up alongside Bumrah and Shami. So that is a good policy to rotate the players," said Hogg.
"With this Indian team going to England, bowling will be their strength. They will have Bumrah and Shami in the XI, but I would like to see Krishna too with his extra height and Siraj with his pace and a bit of movement. The only reason I have got Jadeja there is his batting depth."
India and England will play the only remaining match from their series last year that India leads 2-1.
The series was postponed due to Covid-19 cases in the Indian camp.
(Hindustan Times inputs)