'Have to draw line somewhere': Deep Dasgupta addresses India's 'selection drama' in England

India vs England: Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta addressed the squad dilemma India are facing with Shubman Gill's injury in England.

Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta addressed the reported rumours of the Indian team calling Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal to England as replacements for an injured Shubman Gill and said that a team should not include too many players in the squads as it may lead to too many changes in the playing XI.

File image of Deep Dasgupta (Twitter)

Shubman has been reportedly injured and is expected to miss the entire five-match Test series against England. Despite having KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Abhimanyu Easwaran as part of the squad, there were reports that coach Ravi Shastri wanted Shaw and Padikkal to join the Indian camp in England.

Speaking on the same in a video uploaded on his Youtube channel, Dasgupta said that both Shaw and Padikkal are good players, but if the coach wanted him, they should have been part of the plan before.

"Unfortunately, Shubman Gill is injured and most probably he's out of the whole series. Already, you have five players present there who have opened before -Rohit, Mayank, KL Rahul, Hanuma Vihari, and Abhimanyu Easwaran. Still, you are talking about Prithvi Shaw or Paddikal, which is fine, both are good players in fine form. But then they should have been a part of the plan before," he said.

"Yes, you can play KL Rahul and Hanuma Vihari in the middle-order but there's this whole insecurity issue. Having a big 24-man squad is understandable in today's times but you have to draw the line somewhere; that these are the 15-16 players that will play, if we win, we win; if we lose, we lose.

"There used to be a squad of 15 which has now increased to 24 - which means that there are two substitutes for every player. The problem with this is that the more options you have, the more your mind goes toward making changes. A player has an off game and we see two substitutes and feel like making a change. So, suddenly the team changes increase.

"We have all seen it, the more consistent the team, the more secure are the players and the better they perform. Whereas when there are so many options, insecurity creeps in, and you want to change the team after every one or two Tests. So, I am not too sure whether it's a great idea of having 24 people in the squad," he signed off.