2018 Nidahas Trophy: It's Simply the Accident of Birth, says Sunil Gavaskar on Mayank Agarwal's Exclusion

Karnataka’s Mayank Agarwal created quite a buzz around media off-late.

Even after piling on over 2000 runs in a single domestic season across all format, Mayank got overlooked by the selectors for the forthcoming Nidahas Trophy 2018 in Sri Lanka.

The Nidihas Trophy was a golden opportunity for Karnataka opener to make his international debut.

However, selector chose not to rest Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. It meant that the 27-year old could not make the cut into the Indian side.

Moreover, Sunil Gavaskar reckons it is the accident of birth which does not allow even the greatest of players to replace the already established in the team.

During the era of Fab Four, batsmen such as Subramaniam Badrinath could not make the cut into the Indian side. Hodge, Herath, and Stuart MacGill forever played under the shadows of greats such as Ponting, Muralitharan and Warne, respectively, and thus couldn’t get a permanent spot on their sides.

“As always the selection of a team means some in-form players won’t find a place in the squad. Mayank Agarwal has had a fabulous season in all three formats of the game. Still he is not in the team. This has happened to many players in the past. It’s been impossible to dislodge the established ones in the team,” wrote Gavaskar in his column.

Similarly, Gavaskar drew a comparison from with the players of his generation.

The likes of Prassana and Bedi made it challenging for other talented spinners in the Indian domestic circuit to feature for the country.

It’s simply the accident of birth: Sunny

“Many spinners in the 70s and 80s never got the India colours because of the famous spin quartet. Many middle order batsmen couldn’t get a look in from the late 90s till 2010 as that department was ruled by (Rahul) Dravid, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (VVS) Laxman and (Sourav) Ganguly,” added the original batting maestro.

Sunil Gavaskar termed the situation Mayank Agarwal finds himself in as an ‘accident of birth’.

Although, it is learnt the Chairman of Selectors, MSK Prasad, assured Agarwal is now in the long queue in contention for national selection.

“It’s simply the accident of birth and the player has to keep dishing out big hundreds over and over again to not just knock on the selector’s doors but to break it down so it’s not just a matter of the selectors hearing but also seeing him,” concluded Gavaskar.

Sunil Gavaskar also questioned why do the selectors not think of dropping Rohit Sharma,

“What’s been interesting though in this debate about Agarwal’s exclusion is the name of the player that those backing him wanted dropped, rested, whatever. As always Shikhar Dhawan’s name is top of the list and while he could hardly be dropped on form, Agarwal’s backers wanted him rested. Why Dhawan, why not Rohit Sharma? After all Rohit played more matches than Dhawan in South Africa. Not for a moment it is being advocated that Sharma should be dropped but it’s only to bring out that when the axe is to be wielded then Dhawan invariably tops the list,” concluded Gavaskar

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