Srikkanth defends KL Rahul’s Test inclusion, says ‘Manjrekar cannot think beyond Bombay’

KL Rahul captain of Kings XI Punjab celebrates his century. (BCCI/IPL)

After the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian squad for the forthcoming tour of Australia, former India cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar questioned the selection of KL Rahul in the Test squad. Expressing his views, Manjrekar said that selecting the KXIP captain on the basis of his IPL performance was a ‘bad precedent’.

Rahul is currently the leading run-scorer in the IPL 2020 with 595 runs in the tournament so far.

“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.”

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. #INDvsAUS

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) October 27, 2020

KL Rahul in his last 5 Test series
– v SA – Avg 7.1
– v Eng – Avg 29
– v WI at home – Avg 18
– v Aus – Avg 10.7
– v WI – Avg 25.4
I say very lucky to get a recall based on IPL & white ball performance. But now let’s just hope he makes the most of this chance. Good luck to him! https://t.co/YBVbeut5jH

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) October 27, 2020

However, former India cricketer and chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth slammed Manjrekar for his comments and said that the latter cannot ‘think beyond Bombay’.

“Leave Sanjay Manjrekar alone, he doesn’t have any other job,” 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.

“What Sanjay Manjrekar is talking is all rubbish. I’ll not agree.”

“He might have been inconsistent but the same KL Rahul made his debut in Australia and made a century. He’s a good player of fast bowling. Let’s understand, he’s a very good player of fast bowling,” he said.

“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.”

“I’ve seen a lot of people, Harsha Bhogle doesn’t know anything except Bombay. Problem is that they’re not neutral. We are talking about Suryakumar Yadav’s inclusion (in the limited-overs squads), am I talking about DK (Dinesh Karthik) and Ashwin (players from Srikkanth’s home state Tamil Nadu)? We’re not fighting for DK and Ashwin.”

India’s Test Squad for Australia tour: Virat Kohli (c), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohdammed Siraj.

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