‘Just because they don’t play IPL?’ – Wasim Jaffer slams Indian selectors for not giving importance to domestic cricketers

After losing to Australia in the WTC final, India will tour West Indies for two Tests, three ODIs, and five T20Is, starting on July 12. The tour will begin with the first Test in Dominica. The Test series against the West Indies side will be the start of a new WTC cycle for Men in Blue. The Indian Cricket Board has announced the squads for the Test and the ODI series against the Caribbean on Friday, June 2023.

Fans have been left quizzically over the selection after the Indian team selection for the West Indies tour. Former India opener, Wasim Jaffer was not happy after seeing the squad as the deserved ones like Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Priyank Panchal, didn’t get a chance in the squad. Jaffer took to Twitter to share his opinions on India’s team selection for the West Indies tour. He made the following observations:

1. What’s the need for four openers? Instead, they could have picked Sarfaraz as an extra middle-order bat to honor his consistent domestic performances.

2. Easwaran and Panchal have also been doing hard yards in Ranji and India A, knocking on Test doors for a long time. Just because they don’t play IPL, is it a case of out of sight out of mind? How did Ruturaj jump the queue?

3. Surprised to see Shami rested that too after a month-long break. I feel he’s the type of bowler that the more he bowls the better/fitter and in-form he gets

India’s squad for West Indies tour

India’s Test squad for West Indies: 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, Axar Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat and Navdeep Saini.

India’s ODI squad against West Indies: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj, Umran Malik, and Mukesh Kumar.