Former Indian batsman and Cricket commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his disagreement with Sunil Gavaskar who had questioned the precise role of the selection committee. He had even questioned the extension of Virat Kohli’s captaincy stint.
It is to be noted here that Virat Kohli was appointed as captain of the Indian Cricket team only till the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. However, post India’s semi-final exit, there was no meeting of the selection committee or any formal announcement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stating that Kohli had been reappointed as captain of the team.
It is in light of these events that former batsman Sunil Gavaskar asked why Kohli was automatically chosen as the captain and no protocol was followed.
However, Manjrekar does not seem to be in line with Gavaskar. He tweeted on Monday, “Respectfully disagree with Gavaskar Sir with his views on Indian selectors and Virat being retained as captain. No, India did not put in a ‘much below par WC performance’, they won 7 lost two. Last one very narrowly. And integrity a far more important quality as selector than stature.”
Respectfully disagree with Gavaskar Sir with his views on Indian selectors & Virat being retained as capt. No, Ind did not put in a ‘much below par WC performance’, they won 7 lost two. Last one very narrowly. And integrity a far more important quality as selector than stature.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 29, 2019
Earlier, Gavaskar had stated that there should have been at least a formal meeting to assess India’s performance and re-appoint Virat as the skipper. However, Virat was named the captain across all formats for the West Indies tour without any meeting or announcement.
“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,” Gavaskar had written.
“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 added.
The veteran Indian batsman went on to term the MSK Prasad led committee as “lame ducks”.
“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 expectation performance, the captain continues despite much below par expectations where the team did not even reach the finals,” Gavaskar said.
Following India’s semi-final exit in ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, certain sections of the BCCI have been stating that perhaps splitting the captaincy could be the way to go forward.
There have also been widespread rumours of a rift between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. However, Virat denied all the rumours in a press conference. A comment from Rohit Sharma is still awaited though.