Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at selectors for inviting Virat Kohli to meeting before reappointment

Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at selectors for inviting Virat Kohli to meeting before reappointment

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Sunil Gavakar was very straightforward in his assessment of the power Virat Kohli enjoys and slammed the selectors for inviting him without reappointment. The former Indian skipper has also gone as far as calling the selection committee a lame duck and one that doesn’t have the idea of procedure.

After India’s semi-final exit from the World Cup, the national selection committee revamped the team and excluded the likes of Dinesh Karthik to focus more on the future. While the speculation was rife about Rohit Sharma taking over as captain, the selectors nipped those talks into the bud by asking him to attend the meeting ahead of the team selection. Sunil Gavaskar, in no uncertain words, slammed the selection committee's decision for bypassing the procedure.

“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,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day.

“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.”

The current selection committee comprises of MSK Prasad, Sarandeep Singh, Devang Gandhi, Jatin Paranjape, and Gagan Khoda and the total Test experience of this committee stands at 13 matches. Gavaskar stated that this selection committee should be dissolved at the earliest and BCCI needs to pick 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.

“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,” Gavaskar wrote.

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