The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah recently announced India’s preliminary squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. In a surprising move, while R Ashwin made a comeback in India’s limited-overs team, an experienced campaigner in Yuzvendra Chahal was neglected for the showpiece event. 

Former BCCI chief selector MSK Prasad shared his views on the 15-man squad and expressed disappointment at the Indian board not picking two players, including senior opener Shikhar Dhawan – who has been in brilliant form in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

Speaking to Sports Tak, Prasad said that the selectors had done a good job by picking a squad keeping in mind that the tracks in the upcoming event will be spin-friendly.

“You can definitely rate them 8-9 out of 10. They’ve tried to cover all bases and they have gone in predominantly with a frame of mind that it will be more of spin-friendly wickets. That’s the reason we have 4-5 spinners in the squad. Selectors will see from every angle… they will definitely not go into one direction,” Prasad told Sports Tak.

Prasad expressed his disappointment with the exclusion of Dhawan – who has a proven record in ICC tournaments for the Men in Blue.

“Personally, I felt that maybe since this is a major event, someone like Shikhar Dhawan could have really been brought. Considering the fact that he has always done well in ICC tournaments. And he got back-to-back centuries in the IPL so he is in perfect form. I think he could have been more useful for the side,” he added.

Prasad also threw his weight behind all-rounder Krunal Pandya, by adding that he was groomed in the last 3-4 years for the shortest format of the game and could have been a part of the T20 World Cup squad.

“Similarly, Krunal Pandya too. We had groomed him for the last 3-4 years in the T20 format. He’s been doing well for the Mumbai Indians so these are the two names. I felt that these are the two guys who could have fitted in,” Prasad added,