INDIAN CRICKET

The team is going ahead with their experiments: Dilip Vengsarkar questions India’s playing 11 selection

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Former Indian selector, Dilip Vengsarkar criticizes India for taking a major tournament like the Asia Cup lightly.

India were knocked out of the Asia Cup in 2022 following their 6-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka. Their last hopes were shattered after Pakistan’s thrilling 1-wicket win over Afghanistan. The men in blue were the defending champions of the tournament. The shocking back-to-back losses have been a huge setback for the team as well as the fans. India’s frequent shuffling of their playing eleven in the Asia Cup has raised many questions among the critics. They made some questionable changes to the team in crucial matches.

Vengsarkar hits out at the team’s approach to the tournament

While talking to the Khaleej Times, former cricketer and selector, Dilip Vengsarkar, questioned Team India’s experiments with the playing XI in a big tournament like the Asia Cup. He said,

“The team is going ahead with their experiments. Obviously, the team management wants to give all the players a chance as they are trying to find their best XI for next month’s World Cup. But then this event is also very important. The Asia Cup is a very big tournament. Winning matches in a tournament like this are very important for the morale of the team. 

He further added that India can carry out experiments and shuffling in bilateral series but should not take a substantial tournament like the Asia Cup lightly. He said,

Also, I think it’s important to have the winning combination. As I said, the Asia Cup is a very big event. You can experiment maybe in a bilateral series, but the Asia Cups and the World Cup, these are major tournaments. In these tournaments, you need to win, that’s very important”

Rohit Sharma defends the team’s decisions

However, India captain, Rohit Sharma, defended the selection of the starting XI and said that the team wanted to try out the combination of three seamers before the world cup. He added,

“Ideally the combination we would play is four-seamers, but three-seamers was something we wanted to try before the World Cup. We need to find answers as a team, like where we are with five bowlers. We know now where we stand with this combination. No long-term worries, we have lost only two games back to back”

India’s chaotic team selection baffled many. After losing to Pakistan, they dropped Ravi Bishnoi against Sri Lanka. Bishnoi has a considerably good matchup against Babar and Co. The hesitation between Pant and Karthik is out in the open. Even after all this chopping, India failed to win against Sri Lanka and eventually got knocked out of the tournament.

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is months away and post this tournament, it’s safe to say that the team’s quest to find their best playing XI is still on. Moving forward, India has a big task ahead of it.

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