India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir was blunt when asked about the omission of opener Yashasvi Jasiwal from the final squad of 15 for the Champions Trophy squad.
Jaiswal made way for a fifth specialist spinner in Varun Chakravarthy, who was rewarded for his stellar T20 show.
"The only reason (for dropping Jaiswal from the squad) because we wanted another wicket-taking option in the middle and we know that what Varun Chakravarthy brings to the table," the coach said.
"We know that Varun can be a massive threat and with a lot of teams who haven't played him and he could be a X-factor as well. I'm not going to say that he's going to start and all that stuff but it's always good to have a strong bowling line-up."
"Because we know that if he can actually get those wickets in the middle, it's always going to be an advantage, and that was one of the reasons, otherwise we know that Yashasvi has got a fabulous future ahead, it's just that we could only pick 15," Gambhir added.
The Head Coach refused to get into details about Jasprit Bumrah's back-injury that saw him ruled out of the Champions Trophy.
"Obviously he has been ruled out. But all the details I can't give you because it's up to the medical team to talk about that how long is he going to be out for and stuff because it's the medical team that decides at NCA,” he said.
Gambhir also urged people not to mix-up formats while comparing performances, a case in point being Shubman Gill, who scored two fifties and a hundred in the ODI series on flat batting tracks after failing miserably on bouncy and seam-friendly Australian tracks.
"The problem is that we keep judging people after every innings. He's still a young batter, he's still 25. He's got a great future ahead of him and if he's been consistent in one format… Test cricket is tough cricket. He's shown that he belongs to that format as well," Gambhir said.
"I hope that going forward, he can actually deliver in that (Test) format as well. If someone can do it in 50-over cricket, why can't he do it in Test cricket as well? He's played some really good innings in Test format as well. By judging a young cricketer after every inning, we're not going to carry Indian cricket forward like that.”
"You've got to start putting trust in these young players. He's still 25. So, imagine what can happen in the next couple of years if we keep backing him and keep backing a lot of young cricketers in that dressing room. That is something which we need to be clear about," he added.
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