India made a mistake by not picking Rohit: Dilip Vengsarkar
Sep 5, 2018 at 6:56 PM
Former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar isn’t really pleased with India’s current performance in England. Virat Kohli and his men lost the fourth Test by 60-run and went on to lose the series 3-1 with a game to be played at the Oval.
He criticized the selectors for not opting for Rohit Sharma. Apart from Kohli, the Indian batters have been highly inconsistent. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane did play a few solid knocks but the side couldn’t cross the line. They were handed an innings defeat at Lord’s bit came back to with the Trent Bridge Test.
“I feel India made a big mistake of not having Rohit Sharma for the Test series. I presume Rohit was left out of the squad because he has been inconsistent at the Test match level. But having stroke players whose defensive technic is found wanting, followed by batsmen who believe in only defending, Rohit would have been an ideal foil for captain Virar Kohli,” Vengsarkar said.
Vengsarkar vents his anger
The former chief selector felt India didn’t had a back-up plan. He felt Rohit coud have had success in English conditions, especially since he did well in limited overs cricket over there. The tour to South Africa might have been one of the reasons as Rohit struggled to score runs after being selected ahead of Rahane.
Vengsarakar felt young Prithvi Shaw could have been given a chance to feature. “Since they have selected young Prithvi Shaw, they should play him in the last Test match as both the openers failed time and again. Though I feel it would be right to induct Prithvi in a home series rather than in England. However, the selectors have shown confidence in him and since the series is lost. There’s no harm in trying the talented young man,” he explained.