'Is it a case of out of sight out of mind?' - Wasim Jaffer critiques selectors for overlooking domestic players for Windies tour

Team India announced their Test and ODI squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies on Friday, June 23. However, BCCI's decision to omit several impressive performers in the domestic circuit has created an uproar in the media. Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer is the latest cricketer to dissect the Indian squad for the Windies tour.

Rohit Sharma's Indian team will tour the West Indies for a two-match Test series, followed by a three-match ODI series. While the omission of veteran No.3 batter Cheteshwar Pujara surprised Indian fans, the selector's negligence towards prolific domestic players has left people fuming.

Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer pointed out some of the glaring decisions from the selectors for the upcoming West Indies tour, commencing in July. Jaffer questioned the selection of four openers, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Ruturaj Gaikwad, in the Test squad, instead of solidifying the middle order by selecting Sarfaraz Khan.

“What’s the need for four openers? (Rohit, Shubman Gill, Gaikwad and Jaiswal) Instead, they could have picked Sarfaraz as an extra middle order bat to honour his consistent domestic performances. Easwaran and Panchal have been doing the hard yards in Ranji and India A, knocking on Test doors for a long time. Just because they don’t play IPL, is it a case of out of sight out of mind? How did Ruturaj jump the queue?” Jaffer wrote in a strong-worded post.

The cricketer-turned-expert also called out the decision to overlook the likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran for Ruturaj Gaikwad. The ex-cricketer was also left baffled by the move to rest senior pacer Mohammed Shami for the upcoming series. He reckoned that there was no need for a rest for Shami as India had a month-long break between the WTC Final and the Windies tour.