Bengaluru, July 20: Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar lambasted the team management for the current middle-order crisis that has engulfed the team in limited overs.
"Number 3 and number 4 is the most crucial pair," Vengsarkar told the Hindustan Times. "It speaks poorly of the selectors that we don't have a settled number 4. How can you unsettle batsmen of the calibre of Rahul and Rahane?," said Vengsarkar.
"If Ajinkya cannot fit in the ODI squad, there is something more to it than meets the eye. How can you drop Rahane in the next match India is playing (ODIs) after captaining the (Test) team against Afghanistan? How can you not have confidence in your top players of the calibre of Rahane, a proven player in English conditions?," asked Vengsarkar.
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Neither KL Rahul nor Ajinkya Rahane have been given an extended run in the Indian ODI middle order, and Vengsarkar said Rahul in particular has not been allowed to settle into the playing XI.
"What's going on? If you are going to play musical chairs then the confidence of the top players will take a beating," he said. "It doesn't augur well for the future. He (Rahul) has been unsettled, which is not good for a quality batsman," said Vengsarkar.
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Chipping in with his view, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly had said India needs to find a settled player at number 4, and he was speaking in the post-match analysis after the team's loss in the third ODI at Headingley that also resulted in India losing the series.
"I think two of your best batsmen are not being looked after properly," he had said. "I'm not saying it's deliberate. Maybe it's a mistake, maybe when you look at things from the other side you look at it differently.
"But it's my opinion, from this side of the ground, (either) of those two (KL Rahul or Ajinkya Rahane) have to play at 4 because it's too much pressure for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli," he said.