Targeting Harshit Rana for YouTube views shameful: Gautam Gambhir slams Srikkanth

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has ripped into former chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth for criticising the selection of Harshit Rana in the national team. Speaking at the post-match press conference after India's series win over West Indies in Delhi, Gambhir said that people should be ashamed that they are targeting 23-year-old cricketers just to get views on their YouTube channel.

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Srikkanth had earlier joked on his YouTube channel that Harshit Rana is the first name on the teamsheet in the Gautam Gambhir-coached side. Srikkanth's quip went viral on social media, with a section of fans trolling Harshit for being the 'favourite player' of the head coach.

Gambhir, in his usual fiery attitude, slammed Srikkanth without taking the former player's name. Gambhir stated that it was not fair to target 23-year-olds who merit a place in the national team.

"Look, it's a little shameful and I will be very honest with you. If you are criticising 23-year-olds to run your YouTube channel, which is unfair. His father is not an ex-chairman, or ex-cricketer or an NRI. He has played cricket on his own merit and he will continue to do so. Targeting individuals is not fair. Target people on their performance, and selectors are there for that job. If you say horrible things about a 23-year-old on social media, what does that do to his mindset?" Gautam Gambhir said in Delhi on Tuesday, October 14.

"If your kid plays cricket tomorrow, imagine a scenario where he gets abused. He is a 23-year-old kid, and not 33. Criticise me, I can handle it, but he is a 23-year-old boy, so that is something not acceptable. There should be a moral responsibility towards Indian cricket and you should not do these things to help run your YouTube channel. This is not only in Harshit's case, this is for others in future also," Gambhir added.

Kris Srikkanth on Harshit and Nitish

Harshit Rana was not the only young player in the Indian team whose position Srikkanth had questioned. Srikkanth had also raised questions on Nitish Kumar Reddy’s inclusion in the ODI squad.

"Where did Nitish Kumar Reddy come from? If you ask them, they'll say he's Hardik Pandya's replacement. But the actual replacement for Hardik is Ravindra Jadeja, not Reddy," Srikkanth said.

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"Reddy will get clobbered in Australia in ODIs. If you're picking him as an all-rounder, it's not fair. He's just a batsman who can bowl a bit. He wasn’t even part of the Champions Trophy team or in the ODI scheme of things. They’ve somehow squeezed him into the squad," he added.

Both Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana were a part of India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad. The duo had performed decently with the bowling unit, in a series where the Indian batting collapsed in 4 out of the 5 Test matches.

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