India’s transition and Agarkar’s big test highlight team selection as India name a squad bereft of their backbone.
Being Ajit Agarkar is not an easy time. With three consecutive retirements, one injury-forced absence, and one partial availability, it was always going to be difficult to choose a team for an important away series in England. However, given the situation, the selection panel seems to have guided India’s transition in a generally admirable manner.
Virat Kohli (123 Tests) and Rohit Sharma (67 Tests) both announced their retirements a few weeks ago. They have been the mainstay of India’s batting lineup for a long time, having combined for 190 Test matches. As if that weren’t enough, leading batsman Jasprit Bumrah (45 Tests) has only been cleared for around three games, and senior pacer Mohammed Shami (64 Tests) has been sidelined by injury.
“It’s an opportunity for someone else,” Agarkar said. “When guys like that retire, there’s always going to be big holes to fill. I mean, R. Ashwin retired a few months back as well. So, those three guys are stalwarts of our cricket. It’s always difficult. One way of looking at it is, it’s an opportunity for someone else. They’ve left a legacy behind.”
“These two guys are big players for us in Test cricket and those are going to be big holes to fill. So, at the moment, that is a bigger concern. We’ve seen him (Kohli) give 200 percent every ball that he plays, even when he’s not batting or he’s in the field. He probably felt that he had given everything that he had and if he can’t keep up to the standards that he set for himself over the years… maybe it was time for him. It’s come from him. You’ve got to respect that.
“They’ve earned that respect, both of them. As all great players are, the one thing they are is they are true to themselves. When you’ve got a guy who’s played 123 Test matches, 30 centuries, it’s going to be tough to fill. But he’s shown what needs to be done to succeed at this level.
“It’s sometimes a personal call with players and you’ve got to respect that. Like I said, their performances over the years have shown the amount of games that they’ve won for India. It’s someone else’s chance now. But there’s no doubt we’ll miss them. I mean all three of them. And Shami. He’s been incredible. So, four guys like that not being part of the squad is going to make it a little bit tougher. But it’s an opportunity for other guys. We need to show them a little bit more respect and move on.”
One contentious call in the 18-member squad was the omission of Sarfaraz Khan but Agarkar defended the call. “Whether it’s fair on somebody or unfair on someone, those are the choices that you make in the best interest of the team. At the moment we felt Karun (Nair) has put heaps of runs over the last couple of seasons. He played a little bit of Test cricket early in his career, and has played a bit of county cricket. We feel that he’s batting well enough. Also with now Virat not there, clearly lacking a little bit of experience in that batting.”