Surprised by Kusal Mendis' omission for the India tour: Harsha Bhogle

Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle tweeted on the axing of Sri Lankan batsman Kusal Mendis for the Indian Test tour. Bhogle tweeted that he is surprised by Mendis’ omission from the squad. He added that it is understandable that Mendis is short of runs but backed him by saying that he is a quality batsman. The batsman struggled against Pakistan recently.

His scores in the Test series reads- 10,18,1 and 29. Mendis managed to score fifty in only two occasions in 14 innings, with the only highlight being a hundred against a strong Indian side. Mendis also played a vital knock against Bangladesh earlier this year, where he scored a match-winning 194. The coaches and managers have always backed him and he has been tagged as the one for the future., and therefore it came as a shock to many when his name wasn’t there in the list of players to tour India for the Test series.

Labrooy defends axing

As per ESPNcricinfo’s report, chief selector Graeme Labrooy cited that the selectors are mindful of Mendis’ potential, that they left him out of the squad.

“We don’t want a situation where he plays two more innings, gets two low scores and then drop him and destroy his confidence further,” he told The Island. “He has got age on his side and we want him to go on to become one of the greats of the game. We want him to play for another ten years.”

“We didn’t want to throw him to the deep end or take him to India and leave him on the bench,” Labrooy said. “What we tried to do was to let him play some domestic cricket, work on his game and regain his confidence. He is a confidence player. For him confidence is everything, and he has got everything in his armoury.”

I know he has been short of runs but Kusal Mendis is a quality batsman. Surprised by his omission for the India tour.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 6, 2017