"This could backfire" - Karsan Ghavri questions India's team selection for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia
Former India pacer Karsan Ghavri reckons that the selectors' decision to pick young batters for the Australia tour ahead of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara could backfire. Ghavri stated experience counts for a lot while playing in a country like Australia.
India will be playing five Tests Down Under from November 22 to January 7 as part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Rohit Sharma-led side has a few inexperienced batters in the form of Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Nitish Reddy. Yashasvi Jaiswal will also be on his maiden Australia tour.
Speaking to TimesofIndia.com, Ghavri said that the Indian selectors should have considered going back to Rahane and Pujara, keeping their experience in mind.
"Probably the selectors are looking at the age factor. Rahane and Pujara have plenty of experience in Australia, and both have been scoring runs in Indian domestic cricket. Their presence would have been a much better option for India in Australia. We know how Rahane and Pujara have performed in Australia. They could have been given a chance," Ghavri commented.
"When touring Australia, you need experienced players. Unfortunately, the selectors have different ideas, and this could backfire," the 73-year-old went on to add.
Rahane played the last of his 85 Tests against West Indies in Port of Spain in July 2023. As for Pujara, he last turned out for India in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at The Oval in June 2023.
Rahane and Pujara's Test record in Australia
Rahane has played 12 Tests in Australia and has scored 884 runs at an average of 42.09, with two hundreds and four fifties. The 36-year-old slammed 147 in Melbourne in 2014 and scored an iconic 112 at the same venue in the Boxing Day Test of 2020. He was the Indian captain for the last three Tests during 2020-21 tour, which the visitors won 2-1.
Pujara has featured in 11 Test matches in Australia and has scored 993 runs at an average of 47.28, with three hundreds to go with five half-centuries. The tenacious batter scored all his three tons during the historic 2018-19 tour - 123 in Adelaide, 106 in Melbourne and 193 in Sydney. He also contributed three crucial half-centuries during the 2020-21 tour.