Former Indian captain Ravi Shastri said that national selectors should have given opportunity to the young players after India’s performance at the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup where they failed to qualify for the semifinals, says a report in The Indian Express.
"I would have given opportunity to young players. Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. We have all forgotten Ishant but he still has a big role to play in Indian cricket. If you look at batting, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay are young guys who have shown promise," Shastri said.
"It's time to get a better mix of youth and experience for the next time. You need youth, you need some energy in the field. If you look at Zaheer Khan, he needs to be rested. You need him in Tests and ODIs. Why can't you just rest him for Twenty20, give a chance to the young bowler," he added.
Indian team has not qualified for the semifinals in the last three edition of the World Cup, on that Shastri said, “Look at the side that went for the World Cup, the format was new to everyone and as a result, the seniors decided to take the backseat. They were not interested in playing T20. The end result was a young side, that was fit, eager, hungry and an excellent fielding side. These are must in T20. During that time, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa and others were all new and they did extremely well. This defeat has given you enough on the table to think for the future.”
Meanwhile, The Hindu reports that after winning the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa, Indian team has witnessed early exits from England 2009, West Indies 2010 and Sri Lanka 2012.
The report says that the loss against Australia cost India dearly and that match exposed the weak links in Indian team. R. Ashwin, Harbhajan and Piyush Chawla never came to grips with a wet ball and struggled against Shane Watson and David Warner.