Former India fast bowler Dodda Ganesh has questioned the decision to drop KL Rahul and replace him with Shivam Dubey in the ODI match against Sri Lanka. Ganesh called the move ridiculous and said that KL Rahul had captained India in this format only a short time ago.

Sri Lanka won the series 2-0 by defeating India by 110 runs in the third and final ODI played at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, 7 August. Batting first, the host team scored 248 runs. After this, Dunith Welalage took 5 wickets for 27 runs in 5.1 overs and the Indian team collapsed for 138 runs in 26.1 overs.

The Men in Blue made two changes to their playing XI for this do-or-die encounter. Rishabh Pant replaced KL Rahul, while Riyan Parag replaced Arshdeep Singh. Ganesh on his X handle has criticised the Indian management for the decision to leave out an experienced player like KL Rahul for this do-or-die encounter.

Ganesh wrote in his post

“Only a crazy person would replace KL Rahul with Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag for such an important match. Can’t understand what is happening. He was leading India just 3 ODIs ago and suddenly, after a flop performance, he is out of the playing XI. What a joke.

Only in a crazy universe will u have Dube and Riyan Parag playing ahead of KL Rahul, in a decider ODI. Don’t understand what’s happening. He was leading India just 3 ODIs ago and all of a sudden, one failure & he is out of the playing XI. Ridiculous is an understatement. #SLvIND

— Dodda Ganesh दौद्ग गानेश (@doddaganesha) August 7, 2024

The 51-year-old former Karnataka fast bowler also warned that dropping players after one or two failures could create a sense of insecurity in them. He wrote in the next post-

“If a player who had great success last year can be dropped on a technicality after one failure, it creates a sense of insecurity among the players. Well, you can’t build a cricket team like that. Who would have thought that India would lose so easily to Sri Lanka?”

If a player who’s had great success in the last year can be dropped after technically one failure, it creates a sense of insecurity amongst players. Well, you can’t build cricket teams like this. Who would’ve thought that India would lose to SL so convincingly? #SLvIND

— Dodda Ganesh दौद्ग गानेश (@doddaganesha) August 7, 2024

What is your opinion? Was it the right move to keep KL Rahul out of the team in the last decisive match?