Former Indian cricketer S Badrinath lashed out at the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee for including Nitish Kumar Reddy in the squad for the IND vs NZ ODIs while leaving Ruturaj Gaikwad out. The CSK captain, who was a part of the IND vs SA series in late 2025, failed to find a spot in the 15-member side that was named on Saturday. Badrinath questioned the logic behind Reddy’s inclusion, while claiming that he has failed as an all-rounder.
Should India have picked Gaikwad instead of Nitish?
In a video on his YouTube channel, Badrinath claimed that there was no logic behind having NKR in the squad for IND vs NZ ODI series. The former CSK star said that Reddy was getting smashed as an all-rounder and that injustice had been done to Gaikwad. Badrinath claimed that there was inconsistency in the selection of the squad for the New Zealand series.
“Along with the two all-rounders, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, Nitish is there in the squad. I’ve no idea why he’s there in the side. They say he’s an all-rounder but with the ball, he is getting smashed everywhere. Gaikwad has been hard done by. Why is he not there in the team and why is Reddy in the team? There is definitely some inconsistency there. The other team selections were along expected lines and are very good. The only concern is the selection of Reddy over Gaikwad,’ Badrinath said.
Gaikwad returned to the ODI setup in the IND vs SA series where he even scored a hundred in the 2nd ODI. While he would have expected his 105-run knock to help him get another chance in the 50-over format, it wasn’t the case as he was snubbed.
“They sent him at No. 4 against South Africa because there wasn’t a spot at the top, and he responded with a hundred. Following that, he’s smashing runs for fun in List-A cricket at every opportunity. He has two centuries and a half-century in six innings with an overall List-A average of over 57 with 5,000 runs. No one has such a record,” Badrinath added.
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