The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly angry with the Indian team management over their alleged demand for a replacement for injured opener Shubman Gill for the upcoming five-match Test series against England beginning on August 4 at Trent Bridge.
21-year-old Gill was ruled out of the Test series due to a shin stress fracture injury, leaving the Indian cricket team in a selection dilemma for Rohit Sharma’s opening partner.
India has potential backups in Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, and Abhimanyu Easwaran (reserve player) in the squad, but the tourists reportedly want to play the Punjab Kings captain in the middle-order despite the latter was selected as an opener for England Tests.
Now, the Indian team manager, who is in England at the moment, asked the BCCI for two replacements to be sent to England in Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal – both of whom are currently in Sri Lanka prepping for the limited-over series – on their radar for the Test series.
However, the Indian selection committee turned down the request by saying the squad was selected in presence of captain Virat Kohli, and he should have picked the players according to his plans and if the team had a change of plans, they should have communicated it clearly and earlier.
Read Also: ENG v IND 2021: No need to create such insecurity- Saba Karim India's openers predicament
As per Times of India, a BCCI official said: “The team management has to be clear about its vision. The selectors have always heeded to the team management's demands when it came to the composition of the squad. The team was picked in presence of captain Virat Kohli.
The management needed to be clear about its plan when it came to how they wanted to use the players who were picked. Rahul was picked as an opener. If they had a change of plans, they should have communicated it clearly.”
The India team management doesn't seem confident that Easwaran can handle the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Jofra Archer in English conditions and the BCCI has sought clarification about the same.
The official signed off by saying, “Easwaran has been with the team since the home series against England in Feb-March. The team management needs to clarify why they aren't confident about using Easwaran. Only then a decision can be taken on whether a replacement needs to be sent.”
(With TOI Inputs)
