Australia selectors should resign if they have any sense of responsibility: Sunil Gavaskar
Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar highlighted the shortcomings of Australia’s selectors and urged them to resign if they have any sense of responsibility.
Gavaskar felt that instead of pointing fingers at the visiting players, their selectors should be questioned. The 1983 World Cup champion’s comments came amid the extreme criticism of players on several occasions.
From Australian legend Allan Border lashing at Steve Smith to Matthew Hayden slamming the team for their lacklustre showing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener, Australia players are facing a hard time in India.
Gavaskar presented the examples of Josh Hazlewood, who was ruled out of the series due to an Achilles injury, and Mitchell Starc, who only made it to the third Test. The former India cricketer asked the Australia selectors why did they pick Hazlewood, Starc, and Cameron Green when they knew the trio would not be available for the first two Tests.
“While the ex-Australian players on the various media platforms are having a real go at their players, the ones who should be the real targets are the Australian selectors,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“How can they pick three players (Hazlewood, Starc, and Cameron Green) who they knew would not be available for selection for the first two Test matches? That is, for half the series, the team management had only 13 players to pick from.
Gavaskar further questioned the addition of Matthew Kuhnemann when the team had a similar player.
“Then they fly in a newcomer (Matthew Kuhnemann) when they had a similar player already in the team. If they didn’t think the player in the team was good enough, why did they pick him in the first place?
“That meant the team management was picking their 11 from 12 players. Ridiculous. If they have any sense of responsibility the selectors should resign even if Australia make a stunning comeback and win the next two Tests and level the series,” wrote Gavaskar.