New Delhi: After Team India’s crushing defeat against New Zealand in Tests, BCCI’s newly-formed Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) member Madan Lal questioned the team’s rationale in dropping the in-form KL.

Rahul was in fantastic touch in the T20I and ODI series against New Zealand. India won the five-match T20 series 5-0 while going down 0-3 in ODIs. Rahul was the ‘Player of the Series’ in the T20Is, scoring 224 runs.

“I am feeling very sad for Rahul as he was not included in the Test series after a great performance in both T20Is and ODIs series,” Lal told the media during Times of India sports awards 2019.

“I personally feel, Rahul should have played in the team, as he was an in –form batsman,” he added.

He pointed out that one of the main reasons for the debacle could be regular experimentation in team selection, where regular Test wicketkeeper Wridhiman Saha was dropped for Rishabh Pant.

“Definitely Team India did not perform as per their potential and also visitors missed services of opener Rohit Sharma, which costed them the series.”

Ishant Sharma, returning from an injury lay-off, joined the team in New Zealand 72 hours before the first Test. He bowled nearly 23 overs for a five-wicket haul but missed the second test due to ankle injury.

Talking about 31-year-old speedster, Lal said its surprising how he was included in the Test squad if he was not totally fit.

“See he is a pacer, rehabilitation takes time and it was not a wise decision (including Ishant in Test squad), if he was not totally fit. And its upto selectors how they see things in future”.

Sharma was lethal in the first Test at Basin Reserve, causing problems for the Kiwi batsmen with his bounce and movement. He took 5 wickets with an economy of 3.04 in 22.2 overs in first innings of Wellington Test.

The Delhi Capitals pacer will miss the first part of the IPL and will undergo rehabilitation at the Rahul Dravid-led National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.

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