Politics and favoritism in Indian cricket?

Mumbai: IPL 2020 is currently in the business end but the social media was stormed by announcement of the Indian squads for the upcoming Australia tour. What made the entire situation more suspicious was Mumbai Indians posting two tweets, which showed Rohit Sharma batting in the nets but was excluded from the National teams.

Some notable points with the way Team India is being handled under the captaincy reign of Virat Kohli is raising more questions, mostly off field politics.

Rohit Sharma's exclusion from all the three squads:

Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli equation has always been odd over the years, from ignoring Rohit in Tests for long time to captaincy split talks. Kohli was always found insecure when his supremacy felt disputed.

Source: Mumbai Indians Twitter

Rohit Sharma missed 2 IPL games this season with a hamstring strain, What caught the attention of the cricket fans was his exclusion from all the 3 squads for Australia tour. Considering the tour to last till January next year, everyone wondered if Hamstring strain requires 3 months to recover? If Rohit Sharma is ruled out of IPL 2020, Why has he not returned to the NCA for rehabilitation? Or there's some politics enrolling in the Indian cricket team?

A huge squad was announced, the selectors could've mentioned Rohit Sharma's name with (*subject to fitness) in the Test series, which will commence later in December. The direct exclusion from all the formats raised a lot of questions within the Cricketing fraternity. Virat Kohli is under the radar for his cheap politics in team selection.

What made the headlines was Mumbai Indians posting two tweets, featuring Rohit Sharma batting in the nets. In the video posted a little while after the teams were announced, Rohit can be seen in full flow while batting.

Virat Kohli's unconditional love for KL Rahul:

KL Rahul was dropped from the Test side last year after a dismal performance spanning over an year. KL Rahul averaged mere 22.23 in Test cricket since 2018 which is the second lowest average for a batsman batting at 1-7 in the whole world.

KL Rahul was selected for Australia Tests on the basis of IPL performances? Notably KL Rahul was even excluded by India A after his poor performances on the tour of West Indies and Australia last year.

KL Rahul averages a paltry 20.78 on Australian soil, how many players in the Indian team other than KL Rahul is picked on a tour with such poor numbers? The politics and favoritism in Indian cricket has approached big time under the captaincy of Virat Kohli?

KL Rahul being declared as the Vice captain of Limited overs team is also a surprise. Especially with KL Rahul with no impressive records or feats as captain or any leadership roles was handed the position on a platter. Fans even called this a "Favoritism" towards KL Rahul by Virat Kohli.

Interestingly Shreyas Iyer has better leadership abilities and feats compared to KL Rahul was ignored as Vice captain's potential role.

The favoritism act of Virat Kohli towards KL Rahul doesn't end here, Rishabh Pant's exclusion from the limited overs side is also a talking point among the fans and considered a move to establish KL Rahul as the premier Keeper Batsman for India and sidelining Pant.

Rishabh Pant's exclusion from the limited overs side:

In 2019, the selectors and Virat Kohli himself went out saying Rishabh Pant is the premier Keeper Batsman for India across formats even when MS Dhoni had not announced retirement.

Fast forward to 2020, Why was Rishabh Pant a 'premier' Keeper Batsman excluded? Is it because of KL Rahul?

Just to establish KL Rahul in the limited overs, Rishabh was sidelined? Just the way Kohli tried to sideline Shikhar Dhawan from the openers spot to accommodate KL Rahul? Just the way Ambati Rayudu was dropped from the World Cup 2019 squad to accommodate KL Rahul at number 4?

Is Virat Kohli misusing his captaincy powers in Indian cricket?

Off spinners Dilemma:

Virat Kohli after the Champions Trophy loss in 2017 came out quoting "Finger spinners are ineffective in world cricket now".

The same Virat Kohli has chosen finger spinners in his limited overs side for the tour of Australia. The questions arise, the finger spinners excuse in 2017 was just to sideline R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in 2017?

How did the same finger spinners became effective in 2020? 

Certainly some things are not well in Indian cricket and the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly should sort the things and bring transparency with the issues.

Also read: Virat Kohli VS Rohit Sharma who is a better captain?

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