Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the BCCI selection committee on Monday for not following the established procedure while re-appointing Virat Kohli as the skipper of team India. Questioning the way Kohli gets to choose his team, Gavaskar described the MSK Prasad-led selection panel as ‘lame ducks’.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the BCCI selection committee on Monday for not following the established procedure while re-appointing Virat Kohli as the skipper of team India. Questioning the way Kohli gets to choose his team, Gavaskar described the MSK Prasad-led selection panel as ‘lame ducks’.
In his column for mid-day, Gavaskar wrote, “Speaking of lame ducks, the Indian selection committee appears to be one. After the reappointment, he (captain) gets invited to the meeting for his views on selecting the players for the team.”
“By bypassing the procedure, the message that goes out is that while the players like Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik get dropped after below expectations performance, the captain continues despite much below par expectations where the team did not even reach the finals,” he added.
Raising questions on how Kohli was allowed to continue without even having a meeting about it, he wrote, “That they selected the team for West Indies without first having a meeting to select the captain brings up the question of whether Virat Kohli is the captain of the team at his or the selection committee’s pleasure.”
“To the best of our knowledge his (Kohli’s) appointment was till the World Cup. After that, it was incumbent on the selectors to meet even if it was for five minutes for his reappointment,” he remarked.
“This is probably one of the last selections for this committee as a new one will get appointed soon. Hopefully that will have players of stature who will not get bullied and be able to tell the team management that their job is to play with the team chosen by the selectors,” Gavaskar concluded.
In his column for mid-day, Gavaskar wrote, “Speaking of lame ducks, the Indian selection committee appears to be one. After the reappointment, he (captain) gets invited to the meeting for his views on selecting the players for the team.”
“By bypassing the procedure, the message that goes out is that while the players like Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik get dropped after below expectations performance, the captain continues despite much below par expectations where the team did not even reach the finals,” he added.
Raising questions on how Kohli was allowed to continue without even having a meeting about it, he wrote, “That they selected the team for West Indies without first having a meeting to select the captain brings up the question of whether Virat Kohli is the captain of the team at his or the selection committee’s pleasure.”
“To the best of our knowledge his (Kohli’s) appointment was till the World Cup. After that, it was incumbent on the selectors to meet even if it was for five minutes for his reappointment,” he remarked.
“This is probably one of the last selections for this committee as a new one will get appointed soon. Hopefully that will have players of stature who will not get bullied and be able to tell the team management that their job is to play with the team chosen by the selectors,” Gavaskar concluded.