Dubai, Sep 25 (IANS) Chief selector Ajit Agarkar reasoned Sai Sudharsan’s selection in India’s Test squad for the two-match series against the West Indies, saying that he has shown a lot of promise and they look to give him a longer run. He also spoke about Karun Nair’s absence from the squad, and the team’s expectations from players.

Agarkar, in a press conference on Thursday, announced India’s 15-man squad for the two home Tests against the Windies. Sudharsan, who was also part of the playing XI during the team’s tour of England earlier this year, has been backed by the selectors and named in the squad.

Agarkar reserved praise for Sudharsan, while adding that the young players in the setup have been rising through the ranks lately, which is why the selectors believe backing them would help shape their careers.

“Sai has shown a lot of promise, he’s a very good player. Hopefully we can give him a longish run from now on at a particular number. When people like Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma retire, those are big holes to fill, not to forget Ashwin retired a few months back and Shami hasn’t played for a while now.

“Those guys, for the last 10 years, have been the key players for the team. Lot of these youngers guys have shown really good signs in England which was a really tough tour, even though we didn’t win it but there were lots of positives and we can build on them. Hopefully, going forward we can give these guys time to actually build their careers,” Agarkar told reporters at the press conference.

When asked about Nair’s exclusion and Devdutt Padikkal’s return to the team, Agarkar said that they expected the former to do better in England, and that he couldn’t live up to them.

“Frankly we expected a little bit more from Karun in the England trip. He’s played four Tests and we’ve spoken about just one innings. It is what it is. We feel Padikkal offers a little bit more at this point and I wish we could give everyone 15 or 20 Tests. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Padikkal has been in the Test squad, he was in Australia, played against Australia, played in Dharamsala against England, got a 50 there. Showed decent form with India A,” he added.

India and the West Indies will begin their two-match Test series on October 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

— IANS

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