With Rohit Sharma now Team India’s captain in all three formats with the announcement of his being test captain for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, former India cricketer and North zone selector Sarandeep Singh has said that “he is right and obvious choice” after Virat Kohli stepped down as skipper of the test team. He said Rohit has been performing well in Test matches and has been vice-captain of the team.
“Unfortunately, he was out of the team due to injury and Virat also left his captaincy. So, Rohit is the guy who is left to captain India. If I talk about Test matches, the team should have a senior player who is performing well at that level. Rohit Sharma was the best choice. KL Rahul’s name had also come once as he is young and can survive longer but unfortunately, the results in South Africa did not go in his favour. So Rohit is the best option and I don’t think that there could be a better choice,” Sarandeep Singh told. Pacer Jasprit Bumrah too got the promotion as he was named Rohit Sharma’s deputy in the 3-match T20I series and the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka starting February 24. “Test match is a format where he can stand on mid-on and mid-off and can speak to youngsters and guide them,” he said.
Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were dropped from the Test series against Sri Lanka due to a string of poor performances as well as some good batting displays from youngsters like Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari in whatever opportunities they have got lately.
“Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are very senior cricketers. They are performing well for a long time. If the team is winning then a lot of things are hidden but when it is losing then a lot of things come right in front of you. In that way, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane got dropped because when Shreyas Iyer got the opportunity he scored a century on debut and then he had to wait for his turn after going overseas. Same with Hanuma Vihari as he did well in Australia and SA tour matches.
“If you make youngsters sit who are scoring runs then it is not good. You have to tell the senior players to go back to domestic cricket and score runs but if they score runs and youngsters fail then you won’t go back to the senior players. You will go to some other youngsters to have a look. The doors are not closed but road to comeback is indeed tough for them,” Singh said.
Two more names who faced the axe from the Test squad were experienced pace bowler Ishant Sharma and wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha. “Ishant Sharma’s name missing from Test squad was surprising as he was performing well. For a long time now it never seemed that his pace has gone down or he is not able to take wickets. He sat out in all the Test matches in South Africa which was surprising to me. You try youngsters but youngsters are not tried for South Africa series.”