Former Pakistan player Salman Butt said that India should not have named experienced players in their ODI squad for the West Indies series if they were not going to play them in the playing XI. He also opined that the selectors should have instead named a second-string side, allowing the senior players to rest following the two-match Test series as well.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he added: “If it was about resting the senior players, or trying different combinations, you should have sent India ‘A’ team. In that case, all the main players would have got time to rest after the Test series. When you have Ravindra Jadeja and a few other experienced batters, you cannot call this an inexperienced team.”These batters have double centuries in ODI cricket and big scores under their belt in Tests and IPL as well.”
Salman Butt also suggested that India should look to identify 15 players who will take part in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup instead of constantly chopping and changing the squad.
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He said: “If you were to analyse the game as an expert, it seemed as if they don’t care about the results. The other thing is that they were traditionally very good players of spin bowling. However, that control against spinners has been missing. Also, making frequent changes to the team for every tour should stop. It is about time that India knew who their 15 players were for the World Cup.”
Notably, India won the ODI series opener while chasing down a modest 115-run total. Following the win, the visitors rested the senior-duo – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the remaining two fixtures as well. While they lost the second game, they bounced back in the second and won the series.
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“Ajinkya Rahane is an option, considering how impressive he was at the IPL and how he made his comeback into the Test team. Also, I feel that they will need Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the order. I don’t see any of their top order left-handed batters who are better than him. Either Shikhar Dhawan bats with Shubman Gill as the opener, and Rohit Sharma comes at No. 3, or Gill can come down and Rohit can open. They will need experience in big games. They also need an experienced batter at No. 6. It could be Ajinkya Rahane or KL Rahul,” Salman Butt concluded.
