Srikkanth panel’s surprise young India pick: his son

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan,who is also the convenor of the selection committee meeting,refused to comment on the issue. “I don’t speak on selection matters,” he said.

“All I can say is that there was a consensus on his selection,” said Srikkanth. Incidentally,this is the final year of the Srikkanth-led panel’s term.

But beyond the committee there were many who didn’t agree with the decision,as they named several players who surprisingly failed to make the cut despite having a far superior record than Anirudha.

“He shouldn’t have been there in a team that is to play three-day games. Anirudha’s style suits the T20 format,but even there he isn’t quite the top run-getter. Younger players with more potential have scored more than him,” said an official of a state unit whose player was overlooked.

Why Anirudha’s selection makes for an interesting debate is because most players in the 15-member side seem to have earned their call-up the hard way — with piles of runs in the 2010-11 Ranji Trophy.

Meanwhile,the selectors have left out the likes of Ishank Jaggi,a 22-year-old batsman from Jharkhand who scored 532 runs in the longer version and made 346 runs in one-dayers at an average of 57; Karnataka’s 24-year-old Amit Verma who made 652 runs; Baroda’s 21-year old Kedar Devdhar who was scored 499 runs; and Punjab’s 19-year-old batsman Mandeep Singh who scored 305 runs.