Former India cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth has questioned the decision to name a full-strength squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan. He believes India’s recent defeats in Ireland and England may have influenced the selectors to play safe instead of giving opportunities to young players. India announced its squad earlier this week, with four players included subject to fitness clearance.

Kris Srikkanth feels the team management has become overly cautious following the disappointing results and should have used the Afghanistan series to test its bench strength. “After the series losses in Ireland and England, the selectors have decided not to take a chance and picked a full-strength squad for Afghanistan. They are going all guns blazing, but this is a mistake,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

According to the former India captain, Afghanistan would have been an ideal opponent to experiment with youngsters and assess players ahead of future assignments.

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“It is against teams like Afghanistan that you should try out youngsters. Instead, you have picked a full-strength squad out of fear. It feels like a desperate move after the Ireland and England losses,” Kris Srikkanth said. He also pointed out the similarities between the Afghanistan squad and the team selected for the England series. “But this squad is almost the same as the one they picked for England,” the former Indian cricketer added.

Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy have been named in the squad, but their participation depends on fitness clearance from the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. The four players are expected to undergo match simulations before joining the Indian team in New Delhi.

Srikkanth also questioned whether completing fitness tests at the Centre of Excellence should automatically be considered sufficient proof of match fitness.

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“These four haven’t proved match-fitness. So, on what basis are they subject to fitness? Just because you prove your fitness at the Bengaluru CoE, does that mean you are fit?” Kris Srikkanth questioned.