Former Indian selector, Sarandeep Singh has come in support of the current selectors for ignoring Hardik Pandya from the Test squad and said the all-rounder doesn’t fit into the ODI and T20I playing XIs as well if he can’t bowl his quota of overs. After undergoing back surgery in 2019, Hardik has not been able to bowl regularly which has reduced him to just a batsman and as a result, he was excluded from the Indian Test squad for the UK tour.

Sarandeep, whose tenure ended with the historic tour of Australia earlier this year, also expressed his concern after the exclusion of a rare talent like Prithvi Shaw, who was not even selected in the standbys for the England tour.

Durng a recent interaction with PTI, a former selector said, “The selectors’ decision to ignore Hardik for Tests is understandable. He has not been able to bowl regularly after his surgery. I feel he has to bowl 10 overs in ODIs and four in T20s to be part of the playing XI even in shorter formats. He can’t just play as a batsman. If Hardik doesn’t bowl, it disturbs the balance of the side hugely.”

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He further explained, “You have to play an extra bowler because of that and someone like Suryakumar Yadav has to miss out. The team now has other all-rounders in Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Jaddu is back, Shardul Thakur can also be an all-rounder, he has shown that. They all can do the job if Hardik can’t bowl.”

Talking about Shaw not being picked for the UK tour, Sarandeep said it is way too early to ignore a talented youngster like him.

Former selected asserted, “He has the potential to do what Sehwag did for India. You can’t sideline him so early in his career. He has scored tons of runs in domestic cricket after being dropped post Australia tour. You have to back talent like Shaw and even someone like Shubman Gill (he is in the team but did not gets runs against England at home) for that matter.”

The four standbys picked for the UK tour are opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, pacers Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna and Arzan Nagwaswalla.

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Talking about ignored players, Sarandeep said, “Priyank Panchal got a hundred for India A in New Zealand. You have not picked him. You have not picked Devdutt Padikkal who also scored tons of runs. For the left-arm pacer’s slot, I fail to understand why Jaydev Unadkat is being ignored. He picked 67 wickets (a record) in the last Ranji Trophy and a lot of them came on the flat track of Rajkot.”