BCCI has announced the squad lists for the upcoming T20I and ODI series against Sri Lanka. And there are a lot of surprises, but none bigger than Ruturaj Gaikwad missing out in both formats for India, yet again. At this point you just have to wonder, what more does Ruturaj Gaikwad need to do to prove himself and get more regular game time for India?
The 27-year-old has been absolutely consistent for CSK ever since his debut for the IPL Franchise. Not just that, he also stepped up in the domestic games he has been a part of and hasn’t stopped playing those like a certain benchwarmer did. And on top of that, in the last 12 months, he has performed for India in 9/10 times whenever given the chance. Not to forget, he also scored a century against Australia at the end of last year. In the recently concluded T20I series against Zimbabwe, the Pune-born batter scored 133 runs in 3 innings at a strike rate of 158+, and that too in a position where he hadn’t played before. In 2 of his 3 innings, Gaikwad batted at no.4 for India while in the other innings, he batted at no.3.
Ruturaj was dropped for the last T20I in place of Sanju Samson even while he was performing well in the series. And it seems as if the trend has continued with him being left out ahead of the Sri Lanka series. On the other hand, Riyan Parag who wasn’t all that impressive in the T20I series has been called up for his maiden stint with the ODI side and also keeps his place in the T20 setup.
The Samson’s, Nair’s and Rayudu’s of Indian Cricket
Ruturaj Gaikwad isn’t a first. In fact, in recent times there have been such players who have been left out of the Indian side even when they have shown their potential plenty of times and even performed well for India. Sanju Samson is the most recent example. For a long time now, the Kerala-born batter has been showing up for the team, then may it be in the IPL where he is the skipper of Rajasthan Royals, or for India. But up until now, the wicket-keeper batsman has never got a long taste of first-team dynamics.
Another glaring example is that of Karun Nair. Only 2 Indians have scored a triple century in ODI’s. One went on to play 104 Test matches for India(Virender Sehwag), while the other has only played 6 Test matches for the country. In 2016, England toured India for a 5 match test series. In the 5th match of the series on a dry Chennai pitch, Karun Nair notched up 303 runs for India and remained undefeated. A string of low scores in the following three matches though, meant that he would never wear the Indian whites again. Instead, BCCI made the choice to trust Ajinkya Rahane, a more experienced campaigner.
Ambati Rayudu and Manish Pandey are two other names who couldn’t maintain their place in the Indian team. Less game time is what killed their careers too. Most notably, it was the rise of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant which meant less game-time for Manish Pandey to go with his “just above average” performances since the start of 2021. And in Rayudu’s case, it was the sheer dominance of Virat Kohli that made it difficult for him to keep his place in the team.
As time progresses, BCCI’s thought processes have become clearer and clearer. It seems as if Shubhman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal are the chosen ones and Ruturaj Gaikwad will have to succumb to a fate similar to that of the Samson’s, Nair’s and Rayudu’s of Indian Cricket.
