New Delhi: BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla supported head coach Gautam Gambhir’s remark over the online trolling faced by young left-arm pacer Harshit Rana following his selection for India’s ODI series in Australia. Many believe Harshit, 23, is a Gambhir favourite due to his consistent presence across formats.
Following the announcement of India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming white-ball tour of Australia by chief selector Ajit Agarkar fans and former players questioned Harshit’s inclusion ahead of the series starting this Sunday.
Kris Srikkanth made a controversial remark on Harshit’s selection
Former India captain and selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth made a controversial remark on the 23-year-old’s selection, describing Harshit as “one permanent member in the team.” Some fans, however, questioned why Harshit was preferred over Mohammed Shami, who had been India’s joint-highest wicket-taker during the team’s unbeaten run to the Champions Trophy earlier this year.
In the post match presentation, Gambhir backed Harshit against his critics, while Shukla also highlighted that criticism should be responsible and not undermine a player’s morale.
Rajeev Shukla backed Gautam Gambhir’s comment
“Gautam Gambhir is right. If someone has any complaints about the players, then it should be done responsibly. This will bring the players’ morale down. It is the job of the team to select players. So, before you say anything about the players, you should think about how much responsibility you should take,” Shukla said while speaking exclusively to ANI.
Following India’s series whitewash over the West Indies on Tuesday, Gambhir spoke about the criticism faced by Harshit, labeling it “shameful.” He also indirectly criticized Srikkanth’s remarks, urging people to stop making comments just to gain views on their YouTube channels.
Gambhir labelled the criticism as ‘shameful’
“It’s a little shameful that you are targeting a 23-year-old personally. Harshit’s father is not a former chairman. It is not fair that you target an individual. You can target people’s performance. And there are selectors and coaches who will target people’s performance. But if you say such things to a 23-year-old kid, and then social media amplifies it even more, or you are told so many things on social media, imagine the mindset,” Gambhir told reporters in the post-match press conference.
“What you say is just to run your YouTube channel. I think you’ve got, every one of us, not only me, you guys, everyone of us has moral responsibility towards Indian cricket. Indian cricket doesn’t belong to me. It doesn’t belong to the people sitting in that dressing room. It belongs to all of you as well. It belongs to every Indian who genuinely wants Indian cricket to do well. So you can criticise, but do it on performance. Don’t do it because you want to target an individual,” he added.
India’s ODI squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Story Highlight
- Rajeev Shukla supported head coach Gautam Gambhir’s remark over the online trolling faced by young left-arm pacer Harshit Rana following his selection for India’s ODI series in Australia.
- Krishnamachari Srikkanth made a controversial remark on the 23-year-old’s selection, describing Harshit as “one permanent member in the team.”
- Gambhir backed Harshit against his critics, while Shukla also highlighted that criticism should be responsible and not undermine a player’s morale
- Gambhir spoke about the criticism faced by Harshit, labeling it “shameful.”