Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday lashed out at the BCCI for not fielding all-rounder Parvez Rasool in any of the five ODI games against Zimbabwe.
“Did you really have to take him all the way to Zimbabwe to demoralise himIJ Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to just do it at home,” Omar said in a sarcastic tweet after Rasool was not included in the last game against the minnows.
Disappointed at Rasool’s non-inclusion in the playing XI of Indian cricket team in the ongoing Zimbabwe tour, Omar on Friday urged the BCCI to give him a chance to prove himself. “Come on BCCI give the young man (Rasool) a chance to prove himself,” Omar wrote on his twitter page on Friday.
The Chief Minister, an avid cricket follower, had expressed disappointment that the Jammu and Kashmir cricketer has not been given a game even though India has taken an unassailable lead in five-match the ODI series.
“Really disappointed that Parvez Rasool hasn’t been given a game in Zimbabwe,” he said. Rasool is the only member of the 15-member squad who has not seen any action so far. Ajinkya Rahane was warming the bench alongside Rasool but the opening batsman got his chance in Saturday’s game.
Disappointed at Rasool not getting a game, Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) said the young all-rounder has lost a big opportunity to showcase his talent on a tour that was meant to test the second crop of Indian cricketers. “It would not be proper to question the wisdom of selectors sitting here, but Parvez being a great all rounder surely deserved a chance”, JKCA Media Committee chairman, Ranjeet Kalra said here. “This series was actually meant to test the talent of youngsters, surely a big chance lost.
“I was expecting that he would play after the third ODI. All the cricketer lovers of J&K right from the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to the common man on the streets is disappointed that Parvez has not been given a chance in the playing eleven,” he added. Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor also expressed his disappointment over Rasool not making it to the playing XI.