News about Chetan Sharma, BCCI in Tamil: The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team crashed out in the semi-finals against England in the T20 World Cup in Australia. Thus, all eyes turned towards the selection committee led by Chetan Sharma. The BCCI has welcomed applications to form a new selection committee after dislodging the panel.
In this case, after Chetan Sharma’s panel of selectors was removed, why are they picking future Indian teams? is still a mystery. However, this has been exacerbated by the development that Chetan Sharma is said to have re-applied for the ousted post.
Last October 31, Chetan Sharma attended a press conference to announce the squads for the New Zealand and Bangladesh tours. One of the inevitable questions then was about his future as the head of the senior selection committee. Ever since India’s semi-final exit from the T20 World Cup, speculations have been rife about the dissolution of the committee.
That seemed to be their last selection meeting. In fact, when the question was put to him then, there was not even a definite answer from him. He also announced four squads for the T20Is and ODIs against New Zealand and the ODIs and Tests against Bangladesh.
As the BCCI invited fresh applications to replace selectors by November 18, the board seemed to have finally woken up to the controversy in the exam. With the 50-over World Cup just over a year away, there have been some calls. Especially bold decisions are waiting to be made. But little has changed since then. The new selection committee is yet to be selected
Four weeks have passed since November 28 was announced as the deadline for submission of applications. At that time the BCCI had time to appoint a Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising former cricketers Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjabe and Sulakshana Naik.
Never mind that the domestic series is going on, that the West Zone selector’s post has been vacant since last February, and that the T20 World Cup squad has been picked with a selector. Just like coaches, captains and players, selectors have a major role in how a team is shaped and they are the ones who form the core, create the vision and select the players to execute the plan.
The series against Sri Lanka should be a fresh start with the T20s starting in Mumbai on January 3 as India have nine months to put together a squad that can dream of winning the World Cup on home soil. Instead, after finding Sharma’s panel inadequate, the BCCI has asked the same panel to be brought in for the time being to pick the T20 and ODI squads.
A team that was out of order a month ago continues to monitor domestic competition. It is also well known that the board will block new recruits once they come. Of course, no one questions the integrity of the recruiters and the professionalism they bring. But how can they invite an underqualified employee to lead their next ‘pet project’, the so-called 50-over World Cup? As another series comes and goes, BCCI and Team India are surely missing an opportunity.
Make no mistake, this is not a group on autopilot mode. Everyone chooses themselves there. Far from it. There are serious concerns over captain Rohit Sharma’s fitness. If so, it’s time to ask whether Hardik Pandya should be made the white-ball captain.
And surprisingly, presumably never could be sure of their last meeting with BCCI. However, Sharma’s selection committee has made a big call by elevating Pandya as vice-captain for ODIs.
After sticking with Shikhar Dhawan throughout the year and replacing him as a stand-in captain in the recent tour of New Zealand, he was dropped from the ODI series. For a change, they have recalled Gill to the ODI squad to continue with Ishan Kishan.
And because of their consistency regarding random calls, Sanju Samson has been dropped from the ODI squad plan. During the tour of New Zealand, Samson incidentally did not get a chance to play T20 matches. And he played only ODIs before being dropped for the Bangladesh tour. Currently he is only in the T20 team.
Even if a team is selected for the Sri Lanka series, questions will be raised about the way the BCCI went about the entire process. Their first mistake was to reject the Chetan Sharma team before the CAC was formed, especially since it takes time to find the right selectors where there is no inconsistency problem. Doing so in the middle of a domestic series will serve no purpose. Because even fringe players don’t know where they stand. Lastly, it calls into question the sanity of those in charge to pick the team after the same selectors have found it insufficiently qualified.
Cricket is a game with thin margins. Make the wrong decisions, and late decisions can be disastrous.
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