Former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has raised his concerns over the absence of Ruturaj Gaikwad from India’s T20I squad. Gaikwad, who last played for India in the T20I series against Zimbabwe, in Harare, has been overlooked in the recent past despite his consistent performances.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin praised Gaikwad and said, “We do not need to talk about Ruturaj Gaikwad’s class. He’s got all the shots in the book. The only thing is there is no information as to why he is not in the scene after his last T20 series.”
He added that Gaikwad deserves better communication from the management. “When he played the last T20 the coach was different, the captain was different. The issue is if there is no communication with such players they will largely be left in the dark. I really hope he is being communicated to. He is batting brilliantly in red ball as well. I hope they consider him for a middle-order role” Ashwin said.
Ashwin further suggested that Gaikwad could add more depth in India’s middle order, as he has been a consistent performer in the red-ball format. Gaikwad started the Ranji Trophy season with scores of 91, 55*, 116, and 36*. Incidentally, he is a part of the India A squad for the white-ball matches against South Africa in Rajkot.
Ashwin also spoke about the evolving role of openers in T20 cricket, citing the example of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. “In modern-day T20 cricket, you will not be selected as an opener if you come with a strike-rate of less than 145. I am very sorry to say. You like players like Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, all these players who are setting it up for you. You could win the T20 World Cup because of how Virat played in the final against South Africa. But when you have players like these on one side, you need to fight on the other side. That’s why Rohit took it upon himself,” he concluded.
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