'Any player who is dropped...' - Chief selector Ajit Agarkar's bold remarks on Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma's omission from T20I squad

The press conference held with India's new head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar went on successfully and the duo answered all the questions pretty respectfully. However, there was one question they failed to answer clearly. Reporters asked Agarkar to explain the omission of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma from the T20I squad, and he had no clear and direct answer to the question. 

"Any player who is dropped will feel hard done by. Look at Rinku, he performed really well ahead of the T20 World Cup, but couldn't make the cut. We can only pick 15," said chief selector Ajith Agarkar.

Also Read: Gautam Gambhir clarifies on his equation with Virat Kohli 

Gaikwad is one of the best players in T20Is and has proved to be worthy time and again. In the recently concluded Zimbabwe series, he scored 133 runs in three innings with an average of 66.50. In the case of Abhishek Sharma, he scored a century in the Zimbabwe series, which should have been enough for the selectors to judge his talent. However, their exclusion from the team doesn't make sense, and no clear answer speaks volumes about the Board's incompetence and the internal politics that has been going on inside BCCI. 

There was no point in picking both Axar and Jadeja: Ajit Agarkar

India's chief selector Ajith Agarkar also clarified star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's absence from the white-ball squad. He mentioned that Jadeja has been rested for the series as they want him to play in the upcoming 10 games in red-ball cricket ahead of WTC 2025. Hence, this rest is required since he'll have to play back-to-back games in the near future. 

"There was no point in picking both Axar and Jadeja. One would have benched anyways. Jadeja is not dropped. A long Test season is coming" said chief selector Agarkar.