IND vs SL LIVE: Team India fans and former cricketers including Venkatesh Prasad are incensed by India’s top-order selection for first ODI match against Sri Lanka. This is because Double Centurion Ishan Kishan has been benched to make room for Shubman Gill as skipper Rohit Sharma’s opening partner. Follow InsideSport.IN for LIVE updates about India vs SriLanka 1st ODI
IND vs SL LIVE: Double Centurion Ishan Kishan Dropped, fans upset & angry Venkatesh Prasad asks ‘why to drop a man who has scored 200 for you’? Follow LIVE Updates
Batting at the top in Rohit’s absence, Gill smashed the fastest ODI double-century in his last game vs Bangladesh. Rohit in the pre-match presser however said that the left-hander will have to bide his time for more chances to come.
As a result of the choice to select Gill over Ishan, Prasad resorted to Twitter to voice his disapproval in a series of Tweets.
The seasoned pacer claimed that Gill would have batted at position three and a wicketkeeper-batter would have been chosen in lieu of KL Rahul.
“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.”
“And if one is convinced to play Gill, then can have him bat at 3 and let Ishan keep wickets instead of KL Rahul,” he added.
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. https://t.co/LbzKKH8ynw— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) January 9, 2023
IND vs SL LIVE: Double Centurion Ishan Kishan Dropped, fans upset & angry Venkatesh Prasad asks ‘why to drop a man who has scored 200 for you’? Follow LIVE Updates
Prasad added that India’s performance in the limited-overs format has been severely hampered by the playing XI’s frequent changes.
“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 wrote.
Several fans also stated their disapproval of this matter.
Life of KL Rahul : #INDvSL #IshanKishan pic.twitter.com/JYi66eF8Tf
— Yogi Says (@imyogi_26) January 9, 2023
Some asked to sacrifice KL Rahul to accommodate Ishan.
Sacrificing Ishan Kishan to accommodate KL Rahul in the ODI team is very disappointing. For how long the team management will continue to mess up selections?
They’ve turned a large talent pool into a huge disadvantage.#CricketTwitter #INDvSL
— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) January 9, 2023
WATCH Rohit Sharma praise for Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill
Captain @ImRo45 was all praise for youngsters @ShubmanGill & @ishankishan51 ahead of the #INDvSL ODI series starting tomorrow 👌🏻👌🏻@mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/vlZyeGpChP
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 9, 2023
“Both have done really well. But it is fair that we give Gill a chance to have a fair run. In recent games, Gill has got a lot of runs. So has Ishan. He got a double hundred. I know what it takes to get a double ton. It is a great achievement. But just to be honest and fair to the guys who have done really well before that,” Rohit said.
He added, “It is unfortunate that we won’t be able to play Ishan, but it is fair to give Gill that run looking at how things have panned out in the last 8-9 months. He has done extremely well in that position. Ishan is very unfortunate, but it doesn’t rule out anything. We are going to try and keep everyone in the mix as we play a lot of games ahead.”
Ishan has played 10 ODIs, scoring one century and three fifties with an impressive strike rate of 111.97. Shubman has played 15 ODIs so far and has managed one ton and four fifties and scores at a healthy strike rate of 99.13.
