Gavaskar Advocates for Siraj's Exclusion, Urges Honesty in Communication
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Melbourne, Dec 27 (NationPress) Iconic batsman Sunil Gavaskar provided a frank assessment of the underperforming bowler Mohammed Siraj and suggested that the left-arm pacer should be excluded from the Indian team after a series of lackluster performances in the current Border Gavaskar Trophy series.
Siraj, who played a crucial role in the 2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy victory, has struggled to make an impact in this series, having taken 13 wickets across seven innings and not being aggressive enough with the new ball, thus increasing the pressure on Jasprit Bumrah.
Gavaskar believes the right-arm quick should be directly informed about his exclusion due to poor performance rather than being told he is simply being rested. 'I think Siraj, perhaps, needs a little bit of a break. In the sense, I am not saying a break, he needs to be told that he is left out of the team for non-performance. There has to be a situation where you can’t beat around the bush.'
'You need to be brutally upfront and say ‘look, your performance has not been up to scratch, and therefore you are being dropped.’ When you start talking about ‘rest,’ players get wrong ideas. They feel they don’t need to up their game,' Gavaskar mentioned during an interview with Star Sports.
Siraj has also found himself at the bottom of the list for conceding the highest runs per over among frontline bowlers in the series, currently averaging 4.07 runs per over. He had a particularly poor outing in the ongoing Boxing Day Test, giving away 122 runs in 23 overs without claiming a wicket in the first innings.
Gavaskar has suggested either bringing back Harshit Rana, who participated in the first two Tests, or introducing Prasidh Krishna into the playing XI for the fifth and final Test in Sydney.
'But I think Siraj needs to be told, ‘Look, you are not bowling as well as we expected you to on pitches that have been helpful’. That is something that needs to be said. If you want to make two changes, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana to support Jasprit Bumrah. By all means, do that,' he concluded.
