India's non-playing players
The actions of India’s selectors have typically been inscrutable
Tariq Engineer
25-Feb-2013
The actions of India’s selectors have typically been inscrutable. Beginning with Saurabh Tiwary, who was called away from India A’s tour of England so he could carry drinks in Sri Lanka, GS Vivek takes a look at India’s “non-playing players” in the Indian Express
The left-handed Tiwary, picked by selectors as the replacement for Yuvraj Singh in the middle order, had been asked to cut short the India A tour in England to be part of the Asia Cup squad. But being on drinks duty during the Sri Lanka tour means he even missed out on the England experience. Equally baffling is the case of Ashwin. The off-spinner was first picked for the two T20 games against Sri Lanka at home last year and after that has been part of four ODI squads.
But the man, who is seen as the replacement for Harbhajan Singh, has played just one ODI and two T20s games -all of them during the recent Zimbabwe series when the seniors were rested.
Tariq Engineer is a former senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo