In his column that appeared in mid-day on Monday, Gavaskar wrote: "That they selected the team for WI without first having a meeting to select the captain brings up the question of whether Kohli is the captain of the team at his convenience"
Sunil Gavaskar
India’s batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has accused the national selection committee headed by former wicketkeeper MSK Prasad of “bypassing procedure” when it came to the reappointment of Virat Kohli as captain.
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In his fortnightly column that appeared in mid-day on Monday, Gavaskar 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.”
Gavaskar also felt that the selection committee appear to be “lame ducks”. While emphasising the point that the planned Indian players association should also include current cricketers, Gavaskar opined that it must be an independent association else it will end up being a “lame duck organisation.”
Gavaskar continued: “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 the 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.”
The first man to score 10,000-plus Test runs also had a dig at the international experience of the selection committee comprising Prasad, Sarandeep Singh, Devang Gandhi, Jatin Paranjape and Gagan Khoda. The last two mentioned have only figured in ODI cricket for India.
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“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 wrote before making his point that though the historic Test series win in Australia earlier this year was laudable, there were losses in South Africa, England and against the Australians at home in limited overs cricket.
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