Krishnamachari Srikkanth fumes over star all-rounder selection in India’s 15-men World Cup squad

Former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth has raised questions over the selection of all-rounder Shardul Thakur in India’s final 15 for the World Cup. The former believes the selection of the Kolkata Knight Rider (KKR) all-rounder was baseless. The 1983 WC winner suggests that the pacer neither contributes much with the bat in white-ball cricket and also doesn’t complete his quota of overs.

The selectors have picked four all-rounders and four pacers in the squad, apart from seven quality batters. Skipper Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained the ‘balance and depth’ as the criteria behind the selection of India’s final 15 for the event on home soil. The former, especially, stressed having a tail who can be handy with the bat as well, which has been missing from the team.

Shardul Thakur is only scoring 10 there and he doesn’t even bowl for 10 overs: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

The former opener stated on Star Sports, “Everyone is saying we need a batter at No. 8…who needs a batter at No. 8? Shardul Thakur is only scoring 10 there and he doesn’t even bowl for 10 overs. In the match against Nepal, how many overs did he bowl? 4 only. See, don’t see performances against sides like West Indies or Zimbabwe. Yes if he performs well, then keep that in the back of your mind, but don’t give importance to that. Instead stress on performances against teams like Australia or New Zealand. That is why I say, don’t get fooled by overall averages, always look at individual matches.”

Srikkanth gave the example of reserve players in the World Cup-winning Indian side in 2011 to justify his point. He said, “Look at the 2011 World Cup squad. Shall I say who were the reserves? There were two spinners – R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla and one medium pacer in Munaf Patel, along with one batter in Yusuf Pathan.”

The KKR bowler has picked up 15 wickets in nine ODI games in 2023. However, with the bat, he has scored just 48 runs in five innings at an average of 9.60 and a strike rate of 97.95.