'He Is A Man Who's Taken Hat-Trick': Gavaskar 'Surprised' At Shami's Exclusion Vs AFG
Shami excluded vs Afghanistan [Twitter]
Sunil Gavaskar was left disappointed with Indian team management's move to bench specialist third seamer Mohammed Shami in favour of utility cricketer Shardul Thakur for their second match of the ICC World Cup 2023 in Delhi on Wednesday (October 11).
On a flatter surface than the one India comprehensively defeated Australia in Chennai, the tournament hosts were always expected to rest premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pick the extra pacer for the Afghan clash.
Given his experience, pace and hostility, Shami was considered above in the reckoning for the match-up by prominent experts, including Gavaskar, who was taken aback by the decision to then prefer Thakur as coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma persisted with the extra cover to their batting at No.8.
The legendary former cricketer was equally surprised at the tactical exclusion of Ashwin, wondering why the Tamil Nadu cricketer had been ditched after just one outing at the ongoing competition. Ashwin, who couldn't make the playing XI in Delhi since a third tweaker would've been surplus to the needs, delivered a tight spell of 1/31 in the six-wicket victory in Chennai.
Gavaskar Fumes Over India Picking Thakur Above Shami
Speaking to Star Sports soon after Afghanistan elected to bat first after winning the toss and the playing XIs were confirmed, Gavaskar said India made a "difficult call" for him to understand, especially in leaving out Shami, who has been in great form and would've troubled the inexperienced Afghanistan side with his pace and hostility.
"It's a difficult call, but I guess as a group, you're looking to try and give as many of your players a little bit of an outing. And I would have thought with what Mohammed Shami had done against them in 2019, getting a hat-trick and turning the game in the way he would get a go, because it's just a psychological thing. It's psychological," the ex India skipper said.
Gavaskar also felt Ashwin is being hard done by the think tank under Dravid as he got left out for the Afghanistan clash following one outing in the tournament and believed it would make the great off-spinner more "determined" for his next opportunity.
"He is a man who's who's taken a hat-trick. Play him. I know there will be a few changes in the Afghanistan line up from 2019, but anyway it's a call that has been made."
Talking about the match, India are dominating at the moment. Batting first, Afghanistan have already lost 3 wickets.
 "Kashish Chadha")
