Sreesanth ‘Would Love To See’ 34-year-old CSK Star In India’s 2023 ODI World Cup Squad
New Delhi: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s 15-member squad for ICC World Test Championship final that will take place at the Oval from June 7 to 11 against Australia. Ajinkya Rahane, the vice-captain of the Indian Test team, is back in the lineup for this crucial one-off game.
Ajinkya Rahane’s last Test appearance for India was against South Africa in January 2022 and then he was dropped from the home series against Sri Lanka. He didn’t played in the one-off Test against England in July last year and was also left out of two-match series against Bangladesh in December last year. Rahane scored runs in Ranji Trophy for Mumbai but was not considered for 2023 BGT.
Sreesanth made his remarks at the same time as Rahane was given a comeback to the Test team for the World Test Championship championship match. The former vice-captain was benched following India’s tour of South Africa in 2022, but his strong performance in the Ranji Trophy has earned him a spot in the lineup while Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer are sidelined with injuries.
“I would love to see him in the squad. The way he is performing, especially with the World Cup happening in India. That will be one of the boldest moves the selectors can make,” Sreesanth told Star Sports on May 3.
“I am very confident he will do well in the World Test Championship final. But he shouldn’t look at by that performance. He should be given the opportunity (ODI). Let’s see if there are other tournaments, if he is given the white-ball cricket back to him, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him going at No. 4 and winning matches for the country,” he added.
Sunil Gavaskar disagrees
Whereas Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar said that Rahane shouldn’t join white-ball teams at this moment.
“Yes, I think it’s a good idea but I would say not at the moment. White-ball game, no Test match definitely yes, but white-ball game, no, I would look at somebody else,” Gavaskar said.
“Maybe somebody who has been doing well in thewhite-ball format. Somebody like an opening batter, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, if they don’t find place at the top of the order, they can bat in the middle order,” he added.