'He picked 67 wickets in the last Ranji Trophy': Former selector questions absence of successful domestic players

Sarandeep wondered why the players like Panchal and Undakat were left out, even after performing well in the domestic tournaments.

Former national selector Sarandeep Singh has come down harsh on the current selection panel for their pick of players for India’s upcoming tour of England. He questioned the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee for ignoring the likes of Priyank Panchal, Devdutt Padikkal and Jaydev Unadkat who have showcased excellent performance in the domestic circuit.

Devdutt Padikkal (L) and Jaydev Unadkat

Last week, the BCCI announced a 20-man squad for India’s England tour which is comprised of the World Test Championship against New Zealand and then a five-match Test series against the hosts. The selectors have also named the likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran, pacers Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna and Arzan Nagwaswalla as standby players who will travel to the UK with the Indian squad.

While speaking in an interview with news agency PTI, Sarandeep wondered why players like Panchal, Devdutt Padikkal and Undakat were left out, even after performing well in the domestic tournaments.

“He picked 67 wickets (a record) in the last Ranji Trophy and a lot of them came on the flat track of Rajkot,” he added.

Sarandeep isn’t the first one from the cricketing fraternity who questioned the selectors for not picking up Unadkat. Earlier, former Indian fast bowler Dodda Ganesh had expressed his concern over not including the left-arm pacer in the Test squad.

He took to Twitter and stated that it’s ‘perplexing’ to see Unadkat being ignored despite consistent being a consistent performer at the first-class level.

“What else does @JUnadkat need to do to get into the Indian test squad. It’s perplexing to see him being ignored again and again despite great performances year after year at the FC level," Ganesh said in a tweet.

Unadkat had finished the 2019-20 Ranji season with 67 wickets to his credit while leading Saurashtra. On the other hand, Karnataka batsman Devdutt Padikkal scored more than 700 runs in seven matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021. During the tournament, he scored also four consecutive hundreds.