Published: Sep 12, 2016, 04:19 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 12, 2016, 04:19 PM (IST)
Monday was going to be an important day for all Indian cricket fans as the announcement of Indian squad for the three Tests against New Zealand at home was supposed to be announced. With the Duleep Trophy final happening simultaneously and India ‘A’ taking on their Australian counterparts Down Under, it was a perfect time for the selectors to announce the squad for the series that goes underway from September 22. The five wise men had a good look at the pool of talent they had at their disposal as top 45 cricketers were in action at home in the Duleep Trophy while another 15 were showcasing their talent in Australia.
With plenty of talent coming through the ranks and a few Team India stars running out of form, the fans were expecting a few changes in the squad. A section of crowd present at the Greater Noida Stadium, the venue for the Duleep Trophy games, came with a huge banner reading ‘Bring Back Gautam Gambhir’. The southpaw has been in a tremendous form of late and had amassed 320 runs in the Duleep Trophy at an average of 80. Fans wanted him to get back to the team in place of a struggling Shikhar Dhawan. A little section of fans also wanted young, exciting chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and Saurashtra batsman Sheldon Jackson to make the cut.
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However, when the team got announced, there were hardly any surprises, as the selectors decided to retain the same squad albeit after just trimming it from 17 to 15 from the one that travelled to the Caribbean for four Tests last month. All-rounder Stuart Binny and Shardul Thakur were the only ones to be dropped, while rest all players were retained in the squad. Immediately after the team announcement, #INDvNZ became the top trend on Twitter with fans and media covering it extensively. The fans were disappointed and media reflected their emotions through their coverage, which somehow did not go down well with cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar.
The former player took to his Twitter handle to take a dig at media for criticising the team and wrote: “You can actually sense the disappointment in the media when a sensible selection is made.”
You can actually sense the disappointment in the media when a sensible selection is made.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) September 12, 2016
Manjrekar, who has often been labelled as the BCCI’s mouthpiece, defended the team selection by calling it sensible. On the contrary, the fans were justified in their criticism as they wanted struggling players like Dhawan and Rohit Sharma to be dropped on the basis of statistics. Media just did its job by covering the same. But it seems Manjrekar forgot that it is media’s role to show the truth backed by facts.
The selected team will play three Tests against the visiting New Zealand side that start from September 22 and end on October 12, before the ODI series begins on October 16.
