Madan Lal criticises BCCI's decision of awarding cash prizes to selectors

Committee Of Administrators member Diana Edjuli on Wednesday announced that each of the selectors involved in picking the men and women's team would be awarded a cash prize of Rs 15 lakhs by BCCI for “selecting good teams”. However, the announcement came as a surprise to former Indian coach and national selector Madan Lal who expressed his views on the matter via his twitter handle.

“Surprised to read that selectors are rewarded 15L to pick the best team. They are suppose to pick the best team not bad team,” Lal, who has also been an India chief coach as well as national selector, wrote on his twitter page.

The notable fact here is that the selectors are already paid handsomely by BCCI for lending their services for team selection.

“There are instances where selectors have been financially rewarded for the good performance of the team. Like when the Indian men’s team won World Cup in 2011, the selection committee chaired by Krish Srikkanth were given a fat pay cheque,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on condition of anonymity when asked for his reaction on Lal’s comment.

The official admitted that some of the players were automatically selected due to their experience and form which wasn't a mammoth task that deserved such a reward.

“Obviously both men and women’s team played the ICC finals. But if we look at the women’s team, at least 13 out of the 15 girls have been playing for quite some time now. It wasn’t as if they were selected right before the World Cup. “One doesn’t get credited for picking Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami or Harmanpreet Kaur. They are automatic selections,” the official added.