Parth Jindal, the director of JSW Sports and co-owner of Delhi Capitals, created a flutter when he questioned the exclusion of his franchise players Ravichandran Ashwin and Rishabh Pant from India’s limited-over teams. While Ashwin has not been included in limited-overs squads for quite some time, Pant has not made it to the playing XI despite being in the squad.

In a series of two tweets on Wednesday, Jindal said: “Don’t know why @ashwinravi99 is not in this team! There seems to be an aversion to wicket takers! After white washing the kiwis in T20’s the Kiwis showing India that the semi final victory in the World Cup was no fluke. India needs wicket takers and players with X factor”.

“And why carry @RishabhPant17 only for him to warm the bench? Surely he would have benefited from paying against New Zealand A or domestic cricket? To see a player as talented as him not play the 5th T20 and now the 3rd ODI makes no sense #Xfactor”.

It is unusual for a franchise owner to comment on national selection matters and thus it came as a surprise to many.

The off-spinner’s last international limited-overs game was in July 2017. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had been associated with Delhi Capitals as mentor last season. Ricky Ponting remains the head coach this season.