On the question raised on the exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin after the announcement of India’s Asia Cup squad, Sunil Gavaskar lost his coolness giving a harsh reply to the fan.
Sunil Gavaskar outbursts at fans’ question on Ashwin’s exclusion
The Asia Cup Squad has been announced by BCCI on Monday, which has a lot of unexpected inclusions and exclusions thereby raising many questions.
The selection committee has covered all positions and picked the players with perfect form and fitness. But with picking 18 members for the squad where Sanju Samson was considered as backup, the exclusions like Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Shikar Dhawan, and many others have raised many queries among the cricket world.
When asked about Ashwin’s exclusion on a TV live show, Gavaskar lost his control and asked the fan to stop creating controversy. India went out on picking KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer despite their return without any practice matches and also picked Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma for middle-order options.
The queries were on the spin department. Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are identical and Kuldeep is the only wrist spinner in the spin-bowler options.
Many fans and former cricketers have questioned the absence of Chahal in the squad, and have also raised the question of why Ashwin was not included. But former player Sunil Gavaskar thinks that the squad is balanced and a good one.
He said, “Yes, there are a few players who will believe that they are lucky. But the team is selected. So don’t talk about Ashwin. Stop creating controversy. This is our team now. If you don’t like it, don’t watch the matches but stop saying that he should have been picked or another should be there, this is a wrong mindset.”
And he ends the debate on the Chahal, Samson saying no player can claim injustice. “Yes, absolutely (this team can win the World Cup). Who else would you have picked? I don’t think any player can claim that he has been an injustice to him. The experienced and in-form players have been selected in the 17-member Asia Cup squad,” Gavaskar said.
He also supports the decision on picking KL Rahul who will be not available for India’s first match which is set to face their arch-rivals Pakistan on September 2 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
“Let’s see what his injury is like. Winning the Asia Cup is important but the goal is the World Cup. So If the team management wants KL Rahul in the World Cup squad then I think it’s right that they have selected him for Asia Cup despite a niggle.”
“As far as India are concerned, there are 11 days to go. That’s enough time to recover from a niggle. And there are more matches as well, right till the middle of September. I think it will be fair to give KL Rahul (a chance) after all that he has done for India in the past, to give him the opportunity to recover,” said Gavaskar.
When asked about the team’s chances in the big events he replied, “The team that has been selected for the Asia Cup is a good team. We should have the 15 for the World Cup from this team only. When you play for India, every match is important.”
You should always strive to win every match. And Asia Cup is a big tournament. But winning the World Cup is totally different, that can’t be replicated by an Asia Cup win. So you have to look at the bigger picture. If they win Asia Cup, very good but the goal is to win the World Cup,” he concluded.
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