Consistent performers ignored for fitness camp, allege MCA Apex Council members

Salil Ankola. Picture/ AFP

The 45 players shortlisted by the senior selection committee headed by Salil Ankola for a fitness camp has prompted some Apex Council members of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to highlight performances of those cricketers who could not make the cut.

Kaushik Godbole, in an email to secretaries Sanjay Naik and Shah Alam Shaikh, brought up performances of five players (Sumit Ghadigaonkar, Sagar Mishra, Umesh Gujar, Yash Chavan and Musheer Khan), who have been consistent performers in local cricket for the last few seasons but have missed the bus.

Godbole wrote: "I want to highlight few players who have been performing regularly in local cricket [but] are not part of the [special camp] list.

"Last time when the probable list for Vijay Hazare Trophy (50 overs tournament where Mumbai emerged champion) and Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 was selected by [the] earlier selection committee, one of the Apex members called for a special Apex meeting to discuss gaps in the selected probables list as notable performances were omitted.

"However, the same has been the case of the current [selection] committee where the following performing players are been omitted again."

The MCA secretaries, however, informed the Apex Council members that, "emails received from Apex Council members have been shared with the Senior Selection Committee for their consideration."

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Godbole highlighted the performances of each of the five players:

Ghadigaonkar: Two centuries and a fifty in three Police Shield (45 overs) matches; two centuries for RBI (office club) and top run-getter in an office cricket tournament in 2019-20; strike rate of 160 batting in the lower order for Triumph Knights in Mumbai T20 tournament.

Mishra: He is eligible for selection as he has completed his cooling-off period. His performances for the 2020-21 season are as follows: Police Shield: 166 runs and seven wickets in three matches; Talim Shield (T20): 140 runs in three matches (third highest run-getter) at a strike rate of 185; Comrade Shield (45 overs): 104 runs and three wickets in a match.

Gujar: Talim Shield T20: 170 runs at the strike rate of over 150. He also helped his team reach the final with a match-winning 77-run knock in the semi-final against a full-strength DY Patil SA team. Kale Cup T20: Two half-centuries.

Chavan: 2019-20 Dr HD Kanga Cricket League: 228 runs and 41 wickets; 2020-21 Police Shield: 143 runs and seven wickets in three matches; Kale Cup T20: 118 runs and four wickets in three matches.

Musheer: Man of the tournament in Police Shield and top performer in Salarjung Shield.

Following Godbole's email, other Apex Council members Ajinkya Naik and former MCA secretary Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar too wrote to the secretaries in support of the inclusion of cricketers, who have been consistently performing in local tournaments, for the fitness camp.

Meanwhile, another Apex Council member, Amit Dani, former Mumbai Ranji Trophy player, expressed his displeasure over his colleagues shooting emails to the secretaries with names of players who missed out on the fitness camp.

Ankola, however, clarified that the players shortlisted are for the fitness camp and it's not a probables list for the forthcoming domestic season.

The former India pacer assured that all deserving players will get their due. "We will be seeing and adding additional names once the domestic matches start and the performances will be definitely taken into account and due respect given to their performances. All the list of performances were given to all the selectors before the meeting for selection of players for training and fitness camp and we have selected them on basis of that and selected all whom we felt best," Ankola said in his email to the MCA secretaries and Apex Council members.

Ankola also urged to let the selectors continue their work without any hindrance just like last season.

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