India vs Australia: Kris Srikkanth slams Sanjay Manjrekar for questioning KL Rahul’s Test selection
Former India cricketer and chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth slammed Sanjay Manjrekar for questioning the selection of KL Rahul in India’s Test side for the tour of Australia
In Short
- Sanjay Manjrekar had earlier questioned the basis of selecting KL Rahul in the Test squad
- Sanjay shouldn’t question something just to create a controversy, said Kris Srikkanth
- Srikkanth further added that Manjrekar cannot think beyond Bombay cricket and that’s the problem
Earlier this week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian squad for the tour of Australia that is to begin later next month. Like always, some decisions of the selectors have taken the fans and former cricketers by surprise.
The most common one among them is the non-inclusion of Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma. But since that’s because of the hamstring injury the batsman has developed during IPL 2020, most fans are expecting him to be back in the squad once he recovers.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar questioned the basis of selecting KL Rahul in the Test squad. He put out a tweet with KL Rahul’s poor record in the last five Test series to make his point.
“You set a bad precedent when you recall a player for Tests on IPL performance. Especially if the player has been an abject failure in his last few Tests. Whether that player succeeds or fails is irrelevant, such selections massively demotivate Ranji players,” Manjrekar also tweeted.
Srikkanth slammed Manjrekar
However, this did not go down well with another former player and also a former chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth, who spoke about the various factors that selectors go through before choosing the side for a tour.
Srikkanth went a step further and called Sanjay Manjrekar’s views ‘rubbish’.
“What Sanjay Manjrekar is talking is all rubbish. I’ll not agree,” Srikkanth said in his YouTube channel Cheeky Cheeka.
“Questioning KL Rahul’s selection in Tests? He has played well in Tests. I won’t agree at all. Just because Sanjay wants to question something, I don’t think I’ll agree. You shouldn’t question something just to create a controversy. KL Rahul has done brilliantly in all formats. Go through his Test record.”
Srikkanth then pointed out Manjrekar’s bais towards cricketers from Bombay (now Mumbai) and said that the batsman has not been able to think beyond the city.
“Sanjay Manjrekar cannot think beyond Bombay. That’s the problem. We are talking neutral. Manjrekar cannot think beyond Bombay. For people like Manjrekar, everything is Bombay, Bombay and Bombay. They have to think beyond Bombay.”