India announced their Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka with four regular Test players dropped from the squad – Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha and Ishant Sharma. The chief selector, Chetan Sharma conveyed that they had asked each of them to go play the Ranji Trophy and that the selection doors […]
India announced their Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka with four regular Test players dropped from the squad – Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha and Ishant Sharma.
The chief selector, Chetan Sharma conveyed that they had asked each of them to go play the Ranji Trophy and that the selection doors were not closed on them.
“The selectors took the decision after much deliberation. We have spoken to them soon after the South Africa series, we told them that we will not consider them for the two Test matches against Sri Lanka and the doors are absolutely open for them. There is absolutely no problem. We told them to go and play the Ranji Trophy,” Sharma told the media.
“We are nobody to close doors on anyone. This is a game of cricket where you have to score runs, pick up wickets and then you can play for the country. That’s the most important aspect. When we decide to give a break to a player, we make it a point to give them a period. I have requested all four of them to play Ranji Trophy. The selectors are giving a lot of attention to domestic cricket and Ranji Trophy. The tournament is happening after a long while, so we thought it would be good if they go back there and perform.”
India’s Test squad for Sri Lanka series: Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin (subject to fitness) , Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Saurabh Kumar
Even as this news took social media by storm, Wriddhiman Saha came out with a tweet calling out an unnamed “respected” journalist for allegedly threatening him for denying an interview.
After all of my contributions to Indian cricket..this is what I face from a so called “Respected” journalist! This is where the journalism has gone. pic.twitter.com/woVyq1sOZX
— Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) February 19, 2022
In a conversation that’s now on social media, the so-called journalist asks Saha to “do an interview” with him and reminds the India wicketkeeper that he should “choose whoever can help the most”.
When he tried calling a couple of times, Saha did not pick up the call and after this the tone of the texts changed.
“Never again will I interview you. I don’t take insults kindly. And I will remember this,” read his message. “This wasn’t something that you should have done.”
The identity of the journalist is not known.
