Selection committee lacking glamour is least of BCCI's problems

Cricket selectors in India have enjoyed an exalted status. Despite Mohinder Amarnath calling them a bunch of jokers a few years ago, the national selectors have been in the limelight. Their job has been seen as one which can make or break careers.

With Sandeep Patil's term coming to an end and the BCCI having to name a new panel, there was a lot of speculation as to who would be part of the new team.

In the good old days, when selectors were picked from zones like north, south, east, west and central, there was always "room for bias".

There are many instances when players who did not have very strong credentials (read performances) managed to pull strings and got into the national side because he had some selector from a zone to back him.

With the justice RM Lodha panel suggesting sweeping changes for governance in BCCI, a huge list of conditions were laid out for national selectors to be appointed.

Last week, at the BCCI meeting in Mumbai, when MSK Prasad from Andhra Pradesh was picked as chairman, selection committee, with Sarandeep Singh, Devang Gandhi, Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe for company, jaws dropped.

Again, these selectors come from different zones, so nothing has changed!

The joke on social media was how these wise men have played only a total of 13 Tests.

For a nation used to seeing former cricket stars being part of the selection committee, this committee certainly lacks glamour. But to assume they will not be able to do a good job would be very unfair.

To be sure, the problem is not why these gentlemen have been chosen for the job but how the guidelines spelt out on the BCCI website made it so difficult for most former cricketers to apply.

Some of the conditions laid down were so bizarre that the candidate applying for the job should not be over 60. Another rule made it clear that former cricketers with commercial/financial interests in cricket were ineligible.

It's well known that cricket is a sport which generates employment even post retirement. The way cricket academies have mushroomed in small and big cities in India is not a joke.

Even those who did not play the sport at the highest level run cricket academies in your neighbourhood.

Schools have been picked as coaching centres and the more famous the retired cricketer, the higher he charges from each ward.

It would not be an exaggeration to state that only those former cricketers who were doing nothing post retirement could make themselves available for appointment as a coach.

Look at the irony, Venkatesh Prasad is chairman of the junior selection committee and not the senior committee. Sarandeep Singh is in the senior panel and not Aashish Kapoor, who has done a good job of successfully coaching several sides in domestic cricket and also India A teams.

When you try and lay down too many conditions, it becomes difficult to pick big names as coaches. If they are not involved with hands on coaching, they are part of the media in some capacity or the other.

The number of former cricketers who write columns is increasing. Given the explosion in TV channels and radio, former cricketers are busy giving gyaan at large. So, they become ineligible to apply for the selectors' job.

Someone like Pravin Amre spoke about this as well. As one of India's popular freelance batting coach, Amre admitted he makes good money. Obviously, he is not going to give that up for becoming a selector.

Towards the end of 2007, when Dilip Vengsarkar was chairman of the selection committee, there was a lot of pressure on him to stop writing columns in a Marathi paper. It was after a lot of thought, Vengsarkar decided to stop it.

Ideally, the people appointing national selectors could have been a group of people who have credibility and are popularly accepted. We have a cricket committee in place and messrs Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman appointed Anil Kumble as coach.

It seems quite strange that BCCI president Anurag Thakur, secretary Ajay Shirke and new CEO Rahul Johri conducted interviews for hiring the selectors.

You need to have people with best credentials to hire selectors, so the cricket committee could have been entrusted with the job.

In countries like England and Australia, lesser known former cricketers were hired as national selectors. And nobody cribbed about it.

Maybe, it will take time for this new trend to be accepted. As "the performance of the selection panel will be judged by the performance of the team. The proof of the pudding is in the eating," said Ajay Shirke. A bit funny that.

So, when it comes to picking teams in future, will messrs MSK Prasad and team be able to talk hard if a situation arises when they have to deal with Virat Kohli and Kumble? Time will tell.

Last but not the least, Sandeep Patil has shown he is no different from other cricketers who write a few sensational chapters to market their biography or a book well. Just that, Patil could have kept quiet on MS Dhoni and captaincy in Tests.

Or, will Patil one day admit on air Dhoni stumped him by retiring midway through the Test series in Australia?

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

Also read - Can a selection committee with little international experience sit in judgment of Indian cricket demigods