Former India player Sadagoppan Ramesh slammed the team management for their inconsistency in selection after the T20I series against Zimbabwe as well. Ramesh also gave the example of the out-of-form Abhishek Sharma to highlight the difference in parameters used for younger players compared to veterans as well. Notably, Abhishek has been woefully short of runs in T20Is this year, averaging 23.36, including six ducks, in 23 matches as well. On the other hand, the Player of the Tournament of the 2026 T20 World Cup, Sanju Samson, was dropped from the playing XI after a hat-trick of failures in the recent England T20I series.
Ramesh said on his Instagram handle: “The issue is with the selection parameters. It feels like the management wait for players under 25 to succeed. Whereas for those at 35 or more, they seem to wait for one failure. It’s clear that age is playing a major factor in selection. Even a consistent 35-year-old seems to be told to make way for an inconsistent 25-year-old.”
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“Abhishek Sharma was the World’s No.1 ranked batter entering the T20 World Cup. But in 18 innings since, he averages only 18. He has only three half-centuries in this stretch, which is a major worry. Samson was extraordinary in the T20 World Cup, yet, dropped after just three failures. Similarly, there was also a high possibility of Rohit Sharma being dropped had he failed in the Lord’s ODI. In the meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma has silently had a massive slip,” he added.
Sadagoppan Ramesh also called for a hypothetical T20 series between a team of players aged over 30 and a younger team in their 20s as well. He also believes the team with the experienced players will emerge triumphant, thanks to their greater consistency and better fitness levels as well.
“A T20 game between a team full of players above 30 and a team full of youngsters that the management feels is the future would be revealing. The first team would have Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. A three or five-match series would showcase consistency and the team with the 30+ players will surely emerge victorious,” he concluded.
