‘What did they do wrong?’ – Deep Dasgupta opines on two notable omissions from the India squad for Sri Lanka tour

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Thursday, June 10, announced the squad for India’s tour to Sri Lanka in the month of July. As expected, the selectors have picked a strong team and have named Shikhar Dhawan as the captain for the series with Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his deputy.

Former wicketkeeper-batter Deep Dasgupta has now given his verdict for the 20-man squad picked for the Island nation tour and he feels Jaydev Unadkat and Rahul Tewatia deserved a place in the team. While the former impressed with his stupendous performance with the ball in the 2019-20 Ranji season, the latter was impressive in the shorter formats for his domestic team Haryana.

Dasgupta feels both the players should have got a look in as they have done consistently well for their teams in the last two to three years. He further elaborated the squad on his YouTube channel.

“I feel selection has become so easy during these pandemic times. There are six matches – three T20Is and three ODIs. You have picked a squad of 25-20 players and five net bowlers. You could have included a couple of other players too, what did they do wrong?

“Players like Jaydev Unadkat and even Rahul Tewatia, who was part of the squad during the last series, could have been included. Wouldn’t have made any difference to take 27 instead of 25,” Dasgupta said.

I really like Jaydev Unadkat because he is so hardworking and passionate: Jaydev Unadkat

The cricketer-turned commentator felt particularly sad for Unadkat as the selectors have named Chetan Sakariya as the left-arm pace bowler in the squad. The youngster impressed one and all with his performance in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Rajasthan Royals (RR) as he picked seven wickets and was impressive on the field as well.

“I don’t have much to say about the team selection. There are 20 players, so whoever was in contention has made it. There can’t be any surprises. I really like Jaydev Unadkat because he is so hardworking and passionate. Not just in the IPL, he bowls 20-25 overs in the Ranji Trophy, works hard, and is absolutely brilliant. Like I said before if you are taking 25, could have taken 26 as well it would have made no difference.”

Dasgupta further concluded by saying that he was shocked and surprised to see the selectors naming five spinners in the squad out of 20 members and felt those many were not needed. He also was taken aback by Manish Pandey’s inclusion in the squad considering he is, of late, in and out from the team.