BCCI SELECTION COMMITTEE: A SAGA OF MISCOMMUNICATION, MISMANAGEMENT — My Two Cents India

From Yuvraj and Raina to Nair and Rayudu, poor communication underlined MSK Prasad’s tenure as chief selector.

At the beginning, I would like to point out that this article is based on my views and analysis of the various happenings in the last three or four years. Also, I understand that in a committee, there are various decision takers but as a chairman of the committee, you need to own up to the decisions that were taken under your tenure.

MSK Prasad took over as the BCCI’s chairman of selectors in September 2016 and it was a bolt from the blue. Not many had heard of him, and he hardly met the minimum criteria for being eligible for the post of chief selector. It was not the best of times for the BCCI.

With some of the Lodha Reforms in full flow, getting any big names to be a selector was really difficult. While I do not personally believe that you need a particular amount of matches under your belt to be a great selector, as we have seen some great selectors like Raj Singh Dungarpur who never played international cricket, MSK Prasad was been found wanting on multiple fronts especially when it came to communication.

In these COVID-19 times, many players have openly hit out at the selection committee through their Instagram lives. It is a very serious issue. So, in this article, I would like to look back at a few stand out cases from Prasad’s reign as Indian cricket’s chief selector.

Karun Nair made his Test debut during India’s home series against England in 2016. He made a couple of low scores in the first two Tests but in his third match, the Karnataka batsman compiled a triple-century to become just the second Indian to do so after Virender Sehwag.

Even though Nair was playing as a replacement for the injured Ajinkya Rahane, one imagined that he would get a longer rope. But after a few more Tests against Australia, in which he failed to make a significant score, Nair was dropped. He has not played for India since March 2017.

After being dropped, Nair performed well for India A home and away and earned a recall in 2018 for the tour of England. But he remained the only member of India’s squad to not get a game. He watched as Hanuma Vihari debuted in the fourth Test and played the fifth as well, a call that irked Sunil Gavaskar.

After the tour, Nair was again dropped. No answer has been provided. If the management was not interested in playing Nait, was there a communication gap between the selectors and the team? Who takes such calls? These are two pertinent questions for which we still do not have any answers.

Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh have been quite vocal about the lack of communication from the previous selection panel. The fact is, there’s no denying that these players who have achieved a lot for our country definitely deserved better treatment.

Let’s start with Yuvraj, who made his way back into the ODI team in 2017 and had a good series against England where he hits a match-winning century. He was subsequently taken to the Champions Trophy where he played a good knock against Pakistan in the first encounter but did not contribute as much as the team would have wanted in the rest of the matches.

He was then taken to the West Indies, which turned out to be the last time we saw Yuvraj in a blue jersey. Fitness concerns were touted as the reasons for his exclusion and many cited Yuvraj’s failure to pass the necessary yo-yo tests, but he maintained that he did manage to clear it eventually.

The story with Raina also goes in a similar trajectory. He was not considered for the team as he too couldn’t pass the yo-yo test. In 2018, a T20I call-up came for the series against South Africa and then Raina was retained for the Nidahas Trophy where did a decent job. He then traveled to England were India won the T20Is but lost the ODIs. There too, Raina managed some decent knocks but that tour turned out to be his last chance with India.

Again, these two cases being forward the gross miscommunication between the selectors and players as well as a lack of clarity in general. These are World Cup-winning players and deserved to be treated in a better way.

This is another instance where MSK Prasad and the selection committee just kept on passing the buck until it became quite obvious what had happened. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were Team India’s premier spinners until mid-2017.

They were taken to the Champions Trophy and after that huge loss in the final, a lot of questions were raised about their positions in the team. But nevertheless, they also toured the West Indies for an ODI series.

Ashwin played the first three ODIs and Jadeja he last two. Who knew it would be the last time this pair would be together in an ODI?

From there onwards, the wrist-spinning pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav has been preferred. Whenever they were asked about the older spin duo, the selectors kept on repeating the same words — that is, they were being rested. It wasn’t long before everyone realised that this rest wasn’t going to get over anytime soon.

Jadeja did make a comeback in the 2018 Asia Cup but that was made possible only by an injury to Hardik Pandya. It was a comeback after around 480 days.

As far as Ashwin is concerned, that day hasn’t come so far. His last performance in a blue jersey was a spell of 3/28. Again, this is a tale of miscommunication from the selectors. These players were told repeatedly that they were being rested and finally they were just let go off. Why isn’t there any clarity in the message that’s out for them?

This one would be one of the most talked-about decisions of this committee. Ambati Rayudu was picked as the No 4 option for Team India leading up to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. The captain and the selectors were quite vocal about this one. Rayudu too did his bit and had a decent run of form in that period. He had a good tour of New Zealand and was part of the team in the last ODI series before the World Cup which was against Australia.

When the BCCI selection committee convened to pick the World Cup team in the middle of the 2019 IPL, they decided to drop Rayudu for Vijay Shankar. At the time, Prasad used that infamous ‘3D player’ phrase to justify this bizarre selection.

The matter doesn’t end here. Even during the tournament, there were plenty of injuries and replacement needed to be called in. The selectors sent in Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal, which prompted Rayudu to announce his retirement from international cricket.

Why was he ignored in the first place? How did a player who was an integral part of the team and identified by Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri, Rohit Sharma and Prasad as India’s No 4 for the World Cup get dropped shortly before the tournament? And what suddenly made him so redundant that he couldn’t even find a place as a replacement?

Originally published at https://mytwocentsindia.com on June 8, 2020.