KL Rahul "Failed Consistently But Retains His Place": Ex-India Pacer Slams Team's Selection Policy

Former pacer Venkatesh Prasad has criticised Team India's selection policy, particularly after skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed that Shubman Gill will be preferred over Ishan Kishan as the second opener for the 1st ODI against Sri Lanka. Prasad also targeted the continuous selection of KL Rahul in the Indian team despite the 'medicore' performances he has been putting in for a while now. In a series of posts on Twitter, Prasad stressed that the constant chopping and changing in the team has hurt India's performances in limited-overs formats.

"Think fair would have been to give chance to a man who scored a double hundred in India's last ODI, and in a series where India lost two games and the series.

"Have all the time in the world for Gill, but no way you drop a player for scoring a double ton," Prasad said in a series of tweets.

Prasad, who played 33 Tests and 161 ODIs for India, also feels that mediocrity is being preferred over "x-factor" in the current setup.

"There is a reason we have underperformed in Limited overs cricket. Constant chopping changing and a guy who does brilliantly and is an X factor is dropped and mediocrity retained.

"In Eng, Pant scored a hundred in the final ODI and helped India win the series. However based on T20 form was dropped from ODI team. KL Rahul on the other hand barring a couple of innings has failed consistently but retains his place. Performance is not the foremost parameter. Sad," the 53-year-old added.

Rahul will be the designated wicketkeeper in the playing eleven. World's number one T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav is likely to sit out of first ODI with Shreyas Iyer being the preferred choice.

India last won a major tournament back in 2013.

With PTI inputs