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The selectors find themselves at the center of a storm of criticism once again after announcing Team India's squad for the upcoming Test series against the West Indies.
The BCCI has come under scrutiny for picking Indian Premier League (IPL) performers for the red-ball format without giving enough importance to first-class cricket, and there seems to be some truth to those claims. Players like Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan have been excluded, with the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad finding a place.
India's Test squad for the West Indies series: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.
At the same time, however, India arguably haven't even picked those IPL stars who deserve to be part of the Test squad. These players played pivotal roles for their respective franchises in the 2023 edition and also potentially deserve a place in the side on merit.
Here are three IPL 2023 stars who should've been part of India's Test squad for the West Indies series.
#3 Arshdeep Singh
India's pace attack for the Test series against the West Indies looks horribly thin. Jasprit Bumrah is still recovering from injury, while Mohammad Shami seems to have been rested. Umesh Yadav appears to to have been dropped as well.
Rohit Sharma and Co. can call upon Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Jaydev Unadkat, Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini in the pace department. While it's hard to question the inclusion of the first four names on that list, could the selectors have taken a punt on Arshdeep Singh?
The left-armer, who played for the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL 2023 and claimed 17 wickets in 14 matches, has the makings of a quality red-ball bowler. He can swing the ball both ways and averages 25.13 in first-class cricket, although the sample size for the same is only eight matches.
Arshdeep even turned out for Kent in the County Championship and is clearly working on his long-format bowling. While selecting him would've been a slight gamble, he would've added a new dimension to a weak-looking seam attack.
#2 Rinku Singh
Rinku Singh might be becoming one of the best finishers in the T20 format, but there's no doubting his caliber in the whites. The southpaw, who broke through with 474 runs at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.53 for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2023, boasts a stellar first-class record.
Rinku averages 59.89 in 40 FC matches, with seven hundreds to his name. His strike rate of 70.88 also makes for impressive reading, and he has been quite consistent in recent editions of the Ranji Trophy.
With India struggling to find the right replacements in their middle order to take the team forward, they need to turn to the youth at some point. Rinku, who is 25 years old and is steadily improving, should have been in with a shout.
#1 Kuldeep Yadav
Ahead of the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home against the same opposition. While they didn't need the services of Kuldeep Yadav, he was part of the squad for all four Tests.
Strangely, though, Kuldeep doesn't find a place in the squad for the tour of the West Indies, where the wickets are bound to provide the slower bowlers some assistance. India currently have three spinners in the squad - Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel - and could've picked an extra one.
Picking wrist-spinners in Tests is a strategy teams rarely employ these days, but Kuldeep has proven to be a match-winner in the format. The left-armer, who scalped 10 wickets at an economy rate of 7.37 for the Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2023, can feel hard done by.
