Why ignoring Sai Sudharsan and Mukesh Kumar for Border Gavaskar Trophy could be a huge mistake for India?

Indian selectors picked the team to tour Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy starting on 22nd November. Currently India A is playing Australia A in the first game of their tour. Australia A were bowled out for 195 to take an overall lead of 88 runs after bowling out India A for 107 runs. 

Young batting sensation Sai Sudharsan was leading the charge with the bat as he was not out on 96. The left-handed batter wasn’t picked for the series despite being in amazing run-scoring form. It was a move which confused lots of Indian fans who wanted to see the youngster make his transition to the Test team. 

Mukesh Kumar who hasn’t played Test cricket since the start of this year was yet another star. The 31-year-old pacer picked 6/46 with the ball to bowl out Australia A for 195 in their first innings. It was a huge moment for the right-arm pacer who has finally found his form in the recent few matches. 

Sai Sudharsan and Mukesh Kumar send reminders to selectors 

Young batter Sai Sudharsan has been in great form with the bat in the last few months. The 23-year-old was batting on 96 runs from 185 balls and helped India get a sizeable lead in the second innings. When the senior team was announced for the Australian tour, BCCI ignored the young batter from Tamil Nadu. 

With Rohit Sharma all set to miss a Test match at the start of the series, having someone like Sai Sudharsan in the team could have been helpful. Before the India A versus Australia A game, Sai Sudharsan scored 213 against New Delhi. 

If we look at the last few games, Sai Sudharsan has scored 671 runs with an average of 61. The 23-year-old has played 7 matches in the longest format of the game and batted in 11 innings. Sai Sudharsan also scored three centuries and one fifty and has been one of the best batters in Indian domestic cricket. 

Mukesh Kumar’s last Test for India came against England in Visakhapatnam. The 31-year-old hasn’t put a foot wrong ever since his return to domestic cricket. Mukesh Kumar has played five first-class matches so far. In those games, Mukesh has picked 26 wickets with one fifer. 

Considering the current form of Mohammed Siraj, and the injury concerns to Prasidh Krishna, the selectors could have picked Mukesh Kumar. On Friday the seam bowler from Bengal bowled with terrific line and length and bowled out the home team. Akash Deep and Harshit Rana are the other bowlers for India during the tour of Australia. 

Having an experienced bowler like Mukesh Kumar could have helped the Indian side in having a useful addition in the bench. While Akash Deep has played a handful of games for India, this is his first-ever tour of Australia. Harshit Rana on the other hand is yet to play a game for India and playing in Australia could be unnerving for the youngster.