Players Details
Fixture & Results
Coach L R Shukla today reacted sharply to Akash Deep and
Sudip Gharami at being omitted from Irani Trophy playing XI
1st March 2023
Coach L R Shukla today reacted sharply to Akash Deep and Sudip Gharami at being omitted from Irani Trophy playing XI.
"In a strange team selection, Bengal’s in-form batsman Sudip Kumar Gharami who scored over 800 runs and pacer Akash Deep who bagged over 40 wickets in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy season, surprisingly found themselves out of the Rest of India playing XI in the Irani Cup against Madhya Pradesh in Gwalior.
Four players Abhimanyu Easwaran, Gharami, Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep, who helped Bengal finish as runners-up in the Ranji season, were named in the ROI squad but only Easwaran and Mukesh were selected in the playing XI on Wednesday.
The young Gharami was in sublime form in the Ranji season, finishing in the sixth position in the Ranji top-run-getters list with a mammoth 803 runs in just 10 matches.
The 23-year-old, who smashed three superb centuries and five half-centuries in 18 innings with an average of over 50, had to sit out.
Interestingly, other batters Saurabh Kumar, Upendra Yadav, Yash Dhull and Baba Aparajith who were included in the ROI team hardly managed to impress in the Ranji season.
Saurabh, who played for UP, scored just 102 runs in five matches in the Ranji season. Upendra, playing for Railways managed 352 runs in seven matches.
Yash scored just 270 runs in six matches for Delhi while Aparajith, playing for Tamil Nadu scored 402 runs in seven games.
On the other hand, Akash Deep who was ruthless with the ball in the entire season finishing seventh in the most wicket-takers’ list also failed to find a place in the team.
The 26-year-old, who claimed 41 wickets in 10 matches with three five-wicket haul and one 10-wicket haul found himself out of the team.
Surprisingly Delhi pacer Navdeep Saini, who didn’t play a single Ranji game in the season was included in the XI.
This is disappointing to say the least and will let the shoulders down for these talented players. The selectors should give it a thought and as for the players they always give their best."
CAB MEDIA DESK
Arindam Basu
