The selectors have picked star players like Rohit and Kohli in India's Test and ODI squads for the West Indies tour.
India are set to play two Tests and three ODIs and five T20Is on the Caribbean tour. For the red-ball and 50-over series, the selectors have picked star players such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja among others.
As a result, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has been left furious and he expressed concern that top India players are not getting enough rest ahead of the marquee ODI World Cup at home later this year.
"Give them a break, give them a complete break. Look, they have finished on the 12th of June, give them a break till 20, 25th of July. I mean no Test matches, no travelling either. Now apparently this team is going to go for warm-up matches from the 1st or 2nd of July. So how many day's break have they had? Barely 20 days? Why not give them a 40-day break," Gavaskar told India Today.
"Give them a complete 40 day break so when they comeback for the one days and the new season totally fresh," he added.
Gavaskar was also not happy with the selection of the Test squad. Citing the example of Mumbai’s prolific batter Sarfaraz Khan, the former India skipper stated that the selection has demeaned Ranji Trophy and the players who perform in that First-Class tournament.
“Sarfaraz Khan has been scoring at an average of 100 in all past three seasons. What does he have to do to be picked in the squad? He might not be in the XI, but you pick him in the team," Gavaskar remarked.
"Tell him that his performances are being recognised. Otherwise, stop playing Ranji Trophy. Say, it’s of no use, you just play IPL and think you are good enough for the red ball game as well,” he concluded.
India’s Test squad for West Indies tour: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Akshar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.
India’s ODI squad for West Indies tour: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shardul Thakur, R Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.