The Indian selectors recently announced the squad for India’s tour of Australia for all three formats which is to be played later this year in Australia. There were surprise inclusions as well as exclusions in all three formats as we some of the most deserving players earned a call up to the national side. It was expected that Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, both would miss the entire tour owing to injuries they sustained during the Indian Premier League in the UAE.
Talking about the limited-overs squads, Rohit Sharma; the limited-overs vice-captain was nowhere to be seen in any of the lists. The Mumbai batsman has missed the last two IPL games for Mumbai Indians as Kieron Pollard took charge as captain. It is said that Rohit Sharma is struggling through a hamstring injury but as of now there is no clarity over his injury. As a result, in Rohit Sharma’s absence, KL Rahul has been named vice-captain of both ODI and T20I sides.
Rishabh Pant, who was the immediate successor to MS Dhoni as touted by many has failed to find a place in the limited-overs side as KL Rahul has been picked as the preferred wicket-keeper over Rishabh Pant. For the openers slot Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill have been picked as in the absence of Rohit Sharma they would need a buffer opening batsmen.
In T20 side, particular mention has to be Varun Chakravarthy; the mystery spinner has been picked after a strong IPL season for the Kolkata Knight Riders. He will compliment Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja.
But in between all the discussion, there were a few players who were extremely unlucky to miss out in both T20 and ODI squads. These players have been having a sublime IPL season as well as have been performing in the domestic cricket. Which is why to let’s take a look at three players who deserved a place in the squad but failed to make a cut in any of the squads.
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Let’s take a look at three players deserving players who missed out from the limited-overs squad:
1. Suryakumar Yadav
Now, this is not the first time a squad was announced and we have just failed to find Suryakumar Yadav‘s name in it. The Mumbai batsman has been scoring heavily for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy on a consistent basis since last three years now.
Not just the domestic circuit but Suryakumar Yadav has been a consistent performer even in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians as his form alone in 2020 is selection worthy as the latter has scored 283 runs so far with a strike rate of 148.9. If provided with an opportunity, he will surely be a player who could go on to bat at 5 for India as the man from Mumbai has the sheer ability to finish matches for his side.
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During his time at Kolkata Knight Riders, we saw him bat down the order and finish plenty of matches which is why we think Suryakumar Yadav is too good a player not to get selected in the Indian team.
2. Axar Patel
The Gujarat-born left-arm spinner was another name that was missing from both the ODI as well as T20I side when in the hindsight Axar Patel has been the unsung hero for Delhi Capitals franchise this season. Axar isn’t someone who would pick many wickets but he is definitely someone who would contain the batsmen with economical spells which is the requirement of T20s in the current generation.
Bowlers look to bowl more of dot deliveries which result in taking wickets at the other end which Axar Patel has done so well this season for the Delhi Capitals. He’s one bowler who has been building so much pressure from one end that batsman looks to attack the other bowlers and end up giving their wicket to the opposition.
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Also another quality about Axar Patel‘s bowling this season worth noticing has been the line. As we know, Axar isn’t someone who turns the ball a lot which is why he has been bowling a lot of short of good length or full-length deliveries which the batsmen have been finding to get off the mark.
The bowling record of Axar Patel has been magnificent this season. He has picked up 8 wickets in 12 IPL matches at a staggering economy of 6.13 which is quite impressive given that he has been bowling at a time when batsmen look to go hard at the bowlers. If records tell us any story then Axar Patel’s tale does conclude that he really did deserve a go in the limited-overs side.
3. Ravichandran Ashwin
It’s been more than three years since Ravichandran Ashwin has played a match for India in the coloured jersey as Team India looked to move on from the long-serving duo of Ashwin and Jadeja in the limited-overs format. The young duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav were given a run for which they were able to sustain their place inside.
During 2018, Ravindra Jadeja made a comeback to the ODI squad as he replaced the injured Hardik Pandya but there was absolutely no sign of Ravichandran Ashwin. In the same year, Ashwin was appointed as the skipper of the Kings XI Punjab side where we saw him using multiple variations which were never seen before to fox the batsmen. Many predicted that on the bank of the number of variations Ashwin has now developed, we could now see him in the limited-overs setup but he was clearly nowhere in the plans of the national selectors.
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Then came the 2020 IPL season where he was traded from Kings XI Punjab to Delhi Capitals where Ravichandran Ashwin played a different role as compared to the one he had in KXIP as he was seen bowling in the powerplay.
In the 8 IPL matches Ashwin has played this season, he has managed to pick up 9 wickets at an economy of 8.28 mainly bowling in the powerplay where he has managed to get his side major breakthroughs. With the number of variations Ashwin possess he could’ve been a key asset to the limited-overs side which is why he’s another deserving player who did deserve another stint with the limited-overs side.