‘This Indian B team can even defeat the Indian team in England’ – Virender Sehwag slams Ranatunga for 'insult to Sri Lanka' remark

Former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga received a lot of flak for his comments on the Indian squad in Sri Lanka. Ranatunga had stated that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) should not have agreed to play a series against a second-string India as it’s an insult to the nation. Several Indian regulars are in England for the five-match Test series against ‘The Three Lions’ thus are not part of the squad.

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However, the Indian team is not short on quality and boast of several promising youngsters like Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Prithvi Shaw, all proven match winners. Add to that the experience of Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshar Kumar.

Ranatunga’s remarks, as expected, didn’t go down well with many Indian experts. Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has also reacted to the controversy. Sehwag reckoned that Ranatunga was a bit rude in terming the Indian squad as ‘B’ team, adding the current set of players are equally talented as the ones in England.

“Arjuna Ranatunga was a bit rude in saying that. He might have thought this is a ‘B’ team but the strength of Indian cricket is such that you can send any team and it won’t be a ‘B’ team. This is perhaps the benefit of the IPL, we have so much talent that we can’t accumulate in a single team. This team is equally talented,” said Sehwag in a chat with Cricbuzz.

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Also read: Second string Indian team coming here is an insult to Sri Lankan cricket: Arjuna Ranatunga - Sky247 Blog

Sehwag further trolled Ranatunga and said had India not gone to Sri Lanka, the SLC would have lost a lot of funds and sponsorship. The destructive opener opined the current team in Sri Lanka can also beat the Indian team in England.

“What he’s calling a ‘B’ team – which we don’t accept – if they play against the current players in England, they will defeat them in a few games too. I don’t think this is a ‘B’ team. The Sri Lankan board should instead thank the Indian board for even sending the team. They (BCCI) could have easily said, ‘We are unavailable, let’s have this tour sometime else’.

“They should be at least grateful for this team which will financially help the board and its players. If the Indian team had not gone there, they (SLC) would have lost the funds and sponsorships for all six games,” concluded Sehwag.