http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sunil-Manohar-Gavaskar-c91863: Selectors could have tried a few youngsters at Kolkata if India had a 2-0 lead in the series – Cricket News Update
Former Indian great Sunil Gavaskar on Tuesday backed the national selectors’ decision to retain the playing XI from the Mumbai Test, despite a crushing defeat at the hands of England, saying the hosts cannot afford wholesale changes at this stage.
The four-match Test series between India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 is currently levelled at 1-1, and with two games to go it is up for grabs. MS Dhoni and men won the first Test in Ahmedabad by nine wickets, before being annihilated by the Poms with a ten-wicket margin in the second Test, at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium earlier this week.
The Board of Control for Cricket in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 (BCCI) selectors persisted with the same 15-man squad for the crucial third Test of the series, to be played at the historic Eden Gardens venue in Kolkata from December 5 to 9.
Whilst a few former Indian cricketers criticised the national selectors for picking up the same squad that capitulated miserably against the Three http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lions-c808 in Mumbai, Gavaskar backed the decision, saying the hosts could have tried a couple of changes had they been 2-0 up in the series.
"There are quite a few youngsters who are knocking the doors. India could have tried a few youngsters if they were 2-0 up in the series. We can't make wholesale changes, it creates uncertainty. We’ve to look at the situations also. The selection committees are not keen to experiment or inject young blood. That has been the trend in the last couple of years and it has not changed," Gavaskar said.
Replying to a query regarding India’s shocking slump against England in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820, the former Indian skipper said that complacency was the reason behind the home side’s poor show in the latter stages of the Ahmedabad Test as well as in Mumbai.
"Complacency has been the bane of Indian cricket. When the opposition is 160 for 5 or six, we tend to relax...This is what happened in the first Test and here (Mumbai) as well," said Gavaskar, a veteran of 125 Tests and 108 One Day Internationals, urging the Indian players to change this approach in future.
Squad: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Z-Khan-c98379.
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