Former national selector V B Chandrasekhar on Monday said that Tamil Nadu's batting ace Subramaniam Badrinath deserved a place ahead of Suresh Raina in India's one-day squad for South Africa.
"Badrinath should have been a part of the squad even if it meant at the expense of Raina.
Badrinath is a handy player in both forms of the game and is a brilliant fielder too," Chandrasekhar told rediff.com.
Raina has struggled in the recent past, averaging just around 15 in his last 10 one-dayers. He failed to get going in the ICC Champions Trophy, having made just 32 runs in three matches, as India crashed out in the group stage.
"For a long time, he has been lucky. He is a potentially good player, but every potentially good player has to go out and perform. The way they have carried him makes him feel he is a certainty, because of which Mohammad Kaif has suffered.
"[Raina] is a good player but has not got enough chances recently," Chandrasekhar said.
Badrinath has been a heavy scorer in domestic cricket and impressed one and all during India A's tour to Australia earlier this year.
Last season, he was the third highest scorer in Ranji Trophy, with 636 runs in 7 matches at an impressive average of 79.50.
"Raina needs to go back to domestic cricket and work on his game. Badrinath has been a heavy scorer in domestic cricket and he also did well for India A in Australia. There have been a few selections that are quite confusing, but then the new committee may have their own plans," said the 45-year-old.
Chandrasekhar also added that Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir deserved another chance and so did V V S Laxman in the absence of Yuvraj Singh.
Laxman was not picked as the selectors felt he is not good enough for one-dayers, while Wasim Jaffer got the nod ahead of Gambhir because of his superior technique.
"Jaffer and Zaheer are not great fielders either. If you consider fielding, Jaffer may only be just a few miles ahead of Laxman. But they may have some plans in mind. Jaffer is a good player, he had done well in the West Indies so may be picked him on that basis," he said.
The former Tamil Nadu batsman believes that this was a great opportunity to try a couple of new faces since a lot of the batsmen are not in great form.
"We all know that they are capable players, but if they are not performing for a period of time, you need some changes. It is not possible to make a lot of changes in quick time, but some changes can be made. And in the time leading to the World Cup who knows, we could have found a couple of good new players," Chandrasekhar said.
Chandrasekhar, who served as the national selector under the chairmanship of Kiran More, said the current team has looked clueless and desperate in the last few one-dayers.
"There have been some poor choices and poor strategies recently. Maybe the poor form of some of the players is affecting the team," he said.
He also welcomed the recall of veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble to the one-day team.
"Anil will definitely play in the World Cup. Now is a good time to play him some matches," Chandrasekhar said.
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