Former KKR Team Director comes down to defend Gautam Gambhir after India squad announcements vs Sri Lanka

Gautam Gambhir, the newly-appointed head coach of the Indian team is said to have influenced the selection of a few players in the Indian T20I and ODI squads that were named by the BCCI on Thursday.

He had a meeting with the BCIC selection committee including Ajit Agarkar, Jay Shah, and himself before the squads were named for the Sri Lanka series. Gambhir attended the meeting from his Delhi home and the "productive meeting" lasted for an hour. The meeting is said to have been conducted on Wednesday.

Gambhir and the selection committee had a good discussion on the future of Indian cricket and he outlined his expectations from the support staff, the selection committee members, and the players during the meeting.

Gambhir previously said that he wanted the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah to play in the ODI series against Sri Lanka. In the end, Rohit and Kohli were named in the ODI squad with Rohit retained as the captain. Meanwhile, Bumrah was rested as per reports but Gambhir did not talk about this in the meeting.

There have been some big decisions made already with Gambhir on the verge of taking over as the head coach ahead of the Sri Lanka series. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul were recalled into the ODI setup. Rishabh Pant too was recalled. Hardik Pandya was axed from the ODI set and Suryakumar Yadav ahead of Pandya was named the new T20I squad of India.

In a few other massive calls. Yuzvendra Chahal was dropped from both ODI and T20I squads. Kuldeep Yadav is included in the ODI squads but rested for the T20IS. Washington Sundar and Axar Patel are being seen as spin-bowling all-rounders with Ravi Bishnoi as the specialist spinner.

Also, Shubman Gill was named the new ODI and T20I vice-captain and the selection of Shivam Dube in the ODI squad ahead of Sanju Samson and Rinku Singh has surprised everyone.

Also Read: Rohit Sharma or Rahul Dravid? Axar Patel reveals who decided to promote him in the T20 World Cup final vs South Africa

Joy Bhattacharya Defends Gautam Gambhir

This current Indian selection dilemma reminds me in a very good way of the Australians teams from around 1995 to 2010. Players like Darren Lehmann, Mike Kasprovicz, Andy Bichel, Brad Hodge, Stuart McGill and Stuart Law would have played regularly for any other team in the world,…

— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) J<!---->u<!---->l<!---->y<!----> <!---->1<!---->8<!---->,<!----> <!---->2<!---->0<!---->2<!---->4

Former KKR team manager, Joy Bhattacharya who has worked closely with Gautam Gambhir at KKR has tried to justify his selection calls.

He said that with so much competition for places in India's white-ball sides, a few players need to be dropped to include new players. He also gave an example of the Australian team from the 90s to prove his point.

"This current Indian selection dilemma reminds me in a very good way of the Australians teams from around 1995 to 2010. Players like Darren Lehmann, Mike Kasprovicz, Andy Bichel, Brad Hodge, Stuart McGill and Stuart Law would have played regularly for any other team in the world, but the Aussies just had just too many good players" said Joy on X (formerly Twitter).

He further said that any current India T20I or ODI squad cannot be prepared without dropping a few deserving players which he said might not be a bad thing for Indian cricket.

"There is no Indian T20I or ODI side you can currently make without dropping at least three or four deserving players. And that's not a bad thing at all for Indian cricket" Joy further said in his argument.

His tweet has received mixed response with a few calling the selection of Riyan Pagar and Dube in the ODI squad overrated. People have also questioned the logic behind naming Shubman Gill as the vice-captain despite the presence of a few experienced players in the side.

Ohh come on..

Riyan getting picked in ODIs ahead of Yashasvi & Rinku is justified?

Sanju getting dropped from ODIs after scoring a century in the last game he played against SA - is that okay?

Gill vice captain when it's evident that he lacks leadership skills at the moment.…

— Amit T (@amittalwalkar) J<!---->u<!---->l<!---->y<!----> <!---->1<!---->8<!---->,<!----> <!---->2<!---->0<!---->2<!---->4

I see you've now started defending your friend Gambhir here. For starters, let's drop Riyan Parag here from both teams, not a tough call at all. Abhishek in for him in T20I and Ruturaj in for him in ODI. Drop Dube from ODI and get Rinku in. Drop KL from ODI and get Sanju in.

— Abridged Cricket (@AbridgedCricket) J<!---->u<!---->l<!---->y<!----> <!---->1<!---->8<!---->,<!----> <!---->2<!---->0<!---->2<!---->4

The tour kicks off on July 27 with the T20I series in Pallekele before the teams move to Colombo for the ODIs.

Also Read: India squad for Sri Lanka ODIs announced, Shubman Gill named vice-captain, Shreyas Iyer returns