The Indian squads for the Tour of South Africa, starting December 10, bears a distinct look. This is one of the first instances for India when there will be three captains in three formats on a Tour. Rohit Sharma will lead in Tests while Suryakumar Yadav will captain in the T20I series. KL Rahul has been chosen as the skipper in the ODI series. India will play three ODIs, three T20Is and two Tests in South Africa.
However, one notable omission from the squad was that of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The veteran pacer was not picked in any format.
“I and you won’t decide his career because we are not the selectors, and who are we to say whether it’s over or a long career is left? It’s not looking good in the current scenario. It seems like a roadblock has come,” Aakash Chopra, former Indian cricket team opener, said on his YouTube channel.
“You are not getting opportunities. You had a decent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and a decent IPL as well but you are not getting picked anywhere. It was decided long back that they won’t pick him in ODIs but now they are not picking him for T20Is also.”
He went on to say that the BCCI selectors may have started looking at younger bowlers.
“So it seems like the selectors have started looking in other directions and there are options. It is actually a praiseworthy thing about Indian cricket that you always have so many options available that you say you can go with someone else,” he added.
“So Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, and then you forget Umran Malik, whom you played matches four months ago. So this is the reality of Indian cricket. So for Bhuvi, you get the drift.”
Former Indian cricket team fast bowler Ashish Nehra, also associated with Gujarat Titans as coach, also said that Bhuvneshwar Kumar was one bowler who could have got a look-in keeping in mind the conditions in South Africa.
“I am not at all surprised that the selectors have picked three different teams. Pretty much everyone’s name has come. There might be hardly any player who is there or thereabouts whose name is not there,” Ashish Nehra was quoted as saying by Times Now to JioCinema.
“Only one name comes to my mind, because you are going to South Africa, and you have picked a lot of fast bowlers, and that name is Bhuvneshwar Kumar. I understand that you have other new-ball options, you have Arshdeep Singh, and Mukesh Kumar is playing,” Nehra added.
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