Kohli, Kumble backed Rohit and Dhawan for New Zealand series

In a recent report by ABP Live, revelations have been made that it was the Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli and team India head coach Anil Kumble, who influenced the selection panel to retain the likes of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan in the team for the upcoming New Zealand series.

The 15-man squad for the Test series against New Zealand was picked by the Selection Committee on Monday. It was the same squad that toured West Indies recently with only Stuart Binny and Shardul Thakur missing out.

According to the report, long discussions were done before arriving at the final conclusion to stick to pretty much the same team that toured the Caribbean a month ago. The reason that Chief Selector Sandeep Patil gave for the same was that it is not often that Indian team does well overseas. This was his last selection as the Chief Selector.

He quoted, “We have stuck to the combination which has done very well abroad. Not many times (do) we see Indian team doing well when we tour.”

Also check out – Fake Fb wall: PCB begs Shahid Afridi to retire once and for all

Speculations and assumptions were being made that Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir could well make a comeback to the national side following a superlative run of performances in the Duleep Trophy. With over 300 runs to his name in the Duleep Trophy at an average of over 80 and 4 half centuries, Gambhir had his case submitted.

It was also expected that Manish Pandey could make it to the Test team. Pandey emerged as the leading run getter for India A in the quadrangular series recently. With Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan struggling to find form in the recent times, both Gambhir and Pandey deserved a look in.

Furthermore, the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Sheldon Jackson had their names floating around for selection too. Shardul Thakur was unlucky to be dropped without a game been given to him in the Caribbean tour.

Now the report says that skipper Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble did not wish to tinker the winning combination and hence Rohit and Dhawan got a second chance. They believed that Rohit’s ‘immense talent’ had every possibility of being translated to success in the longest format of the game. For Dhawan, Sandeep Patil said the panel wants him to come good.

“We want him to come good,” quoted Sandeep Patil.

Commenting further, he hinted that this might well be a last chance for many of the 15 players as India has a huge pool of talent to pick from. “not only Shikhar but all the 15 that we have selected. We have tremendous faith in the 15 we have selected. It’s not that we have only 15 (players), we have a bigger pool,” he added.

Interestingly, both Dhawan and Rohit Sharma failed to impress in the Duleep Trophy final as well. By the look of things, it only appears a little bemusing to see the in-form players like Gambhir sit out. Gambhir expressed his disappointment following his exclusion from the squad.

Also read – Disappointed but not defeated: Gautam Gambhir