Kolkata: Team India’s prolific spin duo, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested for the upcoming three match T-20 series against England. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) picked off-break bowler Parveez Rasool from Jammu & Kashmir and the veteran leg spinner Amit Mishra as replacements.
India will play three T20 internationals against England in Kanpur, Nagpur and Bengaluru. Rasool was selected due to his impressive showing in the Ranji Trophy. He has been part of only one ODI back in 2014 and hasn’t ever represented India in T20 internationals before. Mishra, on the other hand, recently played in the last of the five-match match ODI series against New Zealand back in October, finishing with figures of 5 for 18. He was in the squad for the recently-concluded three match ODI series against England, but didn’t get a game.
Meanwhile in Jaipur for a book launch, former Indian captain, Bishan Singh Bedi spoke about how all things nasty in cricket administration were by ‘design’ and that the reforms suggested by the Lodha committee should have been brought in 50 years earlier.
Bedi whose name came up as a possible member of the committee to run the BCCI said that the Justice Lodha panel was a beginning of change, but that there were some greedy authorities who would not want to part with the perks that came along with their jobs.
The former Indian captain also took a subtle dig at the contribution of politicians in cricket as he stated that even though they might be at loggerheads about certain issues, when it came to cricket they had a united stance, playing the role of silent operators. Bedi, also talked about the Indian Premier League (IPL) and how it was more of a money churning exercise rather than a properly regulated cricket tournament.
(With inputs from PTI)