Gavaskar slams selectors for dropping Pujara, ignoring Sarfaraz
New Delhi: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has lashed out at the national selectors for making Cheteshwar Pujara the "scapegoat" and ignoring prolific domestic scorer Sarfaraz Khan for the two tests in the West Indies next month.
Referring to Khan's non-selection, Gavaskar questioned the logic behind having the Ranji Trophy if performance in the country's premier domestic tournament is not looked into while picking the Indian red-ball teams instead of taking the players IPL (Indian Premier League) record.
"Khan has been scoring at an average of 100 in all past three seasons. What does he have to do to be picked in the squad? he might not be in the playing XI, but you pick him in the team," Gavskar said of the Mumbai batter to Sports Today.
"Tell him that his performances are being recognised. Otherwise, stop playing Ranji Trophy. Say, it's of no use, you just play IPL and think you are good enough for the red-ball game as well." With the help of three centuries, Khan amassed 556 runs in six games at an average of 92.66 in the 2022–23 Ranji Trophy.
The 25-year-old right-handed batter had scored 982 runs at an average of 122.75 in the 2021–22 Ranji season, including four hundreds.
In all, Khan has scored 3,505 runs in 37 first-class matches at an average of 79.65, including 13 centuries.
As far as Pujara is concerned, his absence from the Indian Test team for the Windies tour has been one of the talking points.
He said not having millions of followers on social media platforms, like some of the other India stars such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, is no reason to drop anyone.
"Why has he been made the scapegoat for our batting failures? He has been a loyal servant of Indian cricket, a quiet and able achiever. But because he doesn't have millions of followers on whatever platforms who would make a noise in case he gets dropped, you drop him? That is something beyond understanding," said Gavaskar.
"What is the criteria for dropping him and keeping the others who failed. I don't know because nowadays there is no media interaction with the selection committee chairman or whoever where you could actually ask these questions," he added.
The highly promising and in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal could be taking up the No.3 spot that Pujara made his own over the last decade.
Continuing, the batting great said that age should not be a criteria for selecting players.
"Yes he has been playing County cricket, he knows what the red ball is all about," said Gavaskar about Pujara.
"Nowadays players can play till they are 39 or 40, there is nothing wrong with that. They are all very fit and as long as you are producing runs or taking wickets, I don't think age should be a factor.
"Clearly only one man has been singled out while the others also failed. To me, the batting failed in WTC (World Test Championship) final. Apart from Ajinkya Rahane, there was nobody who got any runs. So why Pujara has been made the fall guy is something the selectors need to explain," he said.
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Rolls Royce plans major expansion in India eyeing jet engine, naval propulsion programmes
New Delhi (PTI): British aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce on Sunday said it is looking at making India its third "home market" outside of the UK in line with a plan to unlock the full potential of opportunities across an array of domains including jet engine, naval propulsion, land systems and advanced engineering.
In an interview to PTI, Sashi Mukundan, the executive vice president of Rolls-Royce India, elaborating on the move, said the company is planning for a "big investment" in the country and listed developing a next-generation aero engine in India as a priority to power the combat jets that New Delhi will produce under the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme.
Besides the UK, Rolls Royce considers the US and Germany as its "home markets" as the company has considerable presence including manufacturing facilities in these two countries.
Mukundan also highlighted how Rolls Royce can contribute significantly to address India's requirement for electric propulsion capability for boosting the Indian Navy's combat prowess.
He suggested that the development of the jet engine for the AMCA involving Rolls Royce could also help India manufacture engines for naval propulsion as the company is among very few engine makers globally to have the capability to "marinize the aero engine".
Mukundan, without divulging specific details, said Rolls Royce was eyeing to make significant investment to expand its footprint in India, noting that the country has "scale, policy clarity, and a strong push" towards a defence and industrial ecosystem that is expanding rapidly and becoming more sophisticated.
"If everything goes well, it would be a significant investment. It'll be big enough that people will notice it, but I don't want to put a number to it. What matters is the impact of this investment, which would be the development of the entire value chain and ecosystem here across sectors that we operate in," he said.
The top Rolls Royce executive said the company will firm up two MoUs with (Memorandum of Understanding) with two defence public sector undertakings in India. While one pact is for manufacturing the engines for the Arjun tanks, the other is for engines for the future ready combat vehicles.
In October, CEO Tufan Erginbilgic, during a business roundtable had conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India is going to be very critical for Rolls-Royce going forward.
"We have developed two other home markets outside the UK -- the US and Germany. We want to make India our next one. What do we mean by that? We want to do everything across the field, and it's not just defence," Mukundan said.
"That ambition cuts across defence, naval propulsion, land systems, manufacturing, advanced engineering skills, and technology development, all of which align closely with India's own priorities," he said.
On the engines for AMCA, Mukundan said extensive discussions and background work are underway on how to move forward.
"If India is thinking about next-generation engines, Rolls-Royce is probably the best partner. We have the capability, we have the experience both in India and globally, and we have repeatedly demonstrated that we can do it," he said.
Mukundan said all of the engine design work can be done in India, with the relevant technology transferred and all new intellectual property (IP) rights can be jointly owned with India.
"Once you own design IP, you have strategic control. Manufacturing then becomes the next stage, and that is always more complex. It's about ensuring that capability is built systematically and safely," he said.
The Rolls Royce top executive said Rolls Royce engine for AMCA could be helpful for India for developing electric propulsion for naval engines.
Elaborating on it, he said essentially, electric and hybrid propulsion naval engines are marine gas turbines, which are built from the aero engine core.
"Rolls-Royce is one of the few engine makers who have the capability to marinize the aero engine at scale. Why this matters is that it is not viable to build an entire marine propulsion supply chain from scratch here because the quantities in the navy are very low," he said.
"But if the aero-core derivative is built and co-designed in India, the overlapping supply chain becomes justifiable and can support both the aero and naval marine," he noted.
Mukundan also highlighted Rolls Royce's dominance in the global jet engine manufacturing.
"If we look at it globally, we've been building and certifying engines every 18 months including combat and commercial. If I talk specifically about combat, we power the Eurofighter Typhoon with our EJ200 engine, which is one of our recent engine programmes, with 90 kilonewton thrust capacity."
He also said that Rolls Royce is leading the mandate of the Global Combat Aircraft Programme, which is an initiative of the UK along with Japan and Italy to develop a sixth-generation aircraft engine.
"We were also part of a joint program where GE and Rolls-Royce together developed an engine specifically for the fifth generation F-35, which is another example of recent engine development, particularly in the thrust range or even above the thrust range that India is looking to build," Mukundan said.
The F 136 engine was the only engine specifically developed for the F-35 aircraft, with engine development led by GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce.
The executive vice president sounded bullish on India and especially pointed out the Indian government's "visible focus" on building indigenous capability across naval, land, and air domains.
"Over the long term, India will be a major global power. And India is increasingly supporting others in the Global South. For us, there is a lot to work with, and it is all linked."
"It's not just about market access; India is one of the few places where all the pieces genuinely fit together."
"For Rolls-Royce, that makes India not just an important market, but a long-term strategic home," he said.
