Former India National Cricket Team off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the non-selection of the pace-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Harbhajan Singh questioned the decision of the selectors to ignore the likes of Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya in Tests and pick the young Nitish Reddy.
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Nitish Reddy to make his Test debut in Australia
India National Cricket Team will be locking horns with Australia National Cricket Team in the first Test of the five-match series in Perth from November 22.
The young all-rounder Nitish Reddy will be getting his Test cap in Perth as various media outlets have reported that the all-rounder has been finalized in the playing XI by the team management.
Nitish Reddy was picked over Shardul Thakur despite the latter’s past heroics. Thakur was the main pace-bowling all-rounder of the team in the overseas Tests for the last few years, but he was not considered for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Meanwhile, Nitish Reddy will be fulfilling the role of the fourth seamer and will be supporting Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and one among Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, and Harshit Rana.
Reddy has so far played 3 T20Is for India and has done a good job. Talking about his first-class record, he has played 23 matches and has scored 779 runs at an average of 21.05. With the ball, he has taken 56 first-class wickets.
Where is Shardul Thakur gone? Where is Hardik Pandya gone? – Harbhajan Singh
Speaking to Jatin Sapru on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan Singh said that India needed an all-rounder like Pandya or Thakur for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but they have settled in on Nitish Reddy.
“You needed an all-rounder like Hardik Pandya. But you don’t have an option but to play Nitish Kumar Reddy. Where is Shardul Thakur gone? Where is Hardik Pandya gone? We just confined them to shorter formats. You needed a player like Hardik. We started investing in Shardul for the last 2-3 years, but where is he now? Suddenly, on a tour like this, you are asking Nitish to bowl,” he said.
What he can do is just bowl a few overs here and there like Sourav Ganguly – Harbhajan Singh
The legendary spinner opined that Nitish Reddy is not a proper all-rounder and can only chip in with few overs like Sourav Ganguly used to do for the Indian team during his playing days.
“What he can do is just bowl a few overs here and there like Sourav Ganguly did, and if he gets 1-2 wickets, then that would be a bonus,” Harbhajan Singh said.
