"No way you drop a player for..." - Former India pacer lashes out at Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma's selection strategy in first ODI against SL

India and Sri Lanka are locking horns with each other in the first of the three-match ODI series at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati. The visitors won the flip of the coin and asked the men in blue to bat first. In a line of shocking change, the Indian team management has dropped the double-centurion Ishan Kishan from the playing XI of the series opener against the Islanders.

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Notably, the 24-year-old batter smashed a double century exactly a month ago in the third and last of the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh against Chattogram.

Skipper Rohit Sharma also talked about Team India’s lineup while he was in conversation with the journalists during the pre-match press conference ahead of the first ODI against Sri Lanka.

“Both openers (Gill and Kishan) have done really well. But looking at how both have gone through, I think it is fair that we give Gill a chance to have a fair run because in the last games, Gill got a lot of runs as well,” said Rohit Sharma.

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“I am not going to take anything from Ishan. He has been wonderful to us. He got a double hundred and I know what it takes to get a double hundred, it is a great achievement. But just to be honest and be fair to the guys, who have done really well before that we need to give those guys enough chances as well,” he added later.

Although this decision of removing Ishan Kishan from the playing XI didn’t go down well with the former bowling coach of the Indian team, Venkatesh Prasad. He took to Twitter to lash out at the captain and coach’s strategy in a crucial World Cup year.

Venkatesh Prasad slammed Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid in a series of tweets

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“Think fair would have been to give chance to a man who scored a double hundred in India’s last ODI, and in a series where India lost two games and the series. Have all the time in the world for Gill, but no way you drop a player for scoring a double ton,”  read the first tweet posted by Venkatesh Prasad.

In Eng, Pant scored a hundred in the final ODI and helped India win the series. However based on T20 form was dropped from ODI team. KL Rahul on the other hand barring a couple of innings has failed consistently but retains his place.Performance is not the foremost parameter. Sad

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) January 9, 2023

“There is a reason we have underperformed in Limited overs cricket. Constant chopping changing and a guy who does brilliantly and is an X factor is dropped and mediocrity retained,” he added later.