‘Selection committee should be autonomous’

There is no press conference after the selection meetings and there is only an announcement by the administration on the list of players selected by the committee

By Vijay Mohan Raj

Hyderabad: There seems to be a clause in the appointment contract of the selectors which prevents them from disclosing the proceedings and conversation pertaining to the selection process

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This has been a week of controversies and developments. First the Chairman of BCCI Selection Committee has been exposed in a sting operation with regards to the conversation of the Indian cricket captain and that of the BCCI President.

From the details published in the newspaper and the actual conversation shared as a video on the social media it has become apparent that the Chairman of the Selection Committee and his team of selectors have little or no role in the selection of the captain of the team.

In the current scenario there is no press conference after the selection meetings and there is only an announcement by the administration on the list of players selected by the committee. There is no explanation provided by the Chairman to the media for certain inclusions which need the media to share with the fans and Cricket lovers of the country.

It makes me recollect the appointment of Ajit Wadekar as captain of the Indian team at which time the then Chairman of Selection Committee Mr Vijay Merchant was interrogated directly by the media who were provided with an explanation. In the current situation it seems that there is an interference of the administration in the selection process and the Chairman and selectors are being influenced in making certain decisions against their will.

There seems to be a clause in the appointment contract of the selectors which prevents them from disclosing the proceedings and conversation pertaining to the selection process. In my view the selection committee should be autonomous and be appointed by the Players Association and communicated to the Managing Committee for their ratification. This factor was the soul of the proposed reforms of the Lodha commission. The selection committee represented by the Chairman of the selection committee should debrief to the media after every selection meeting and take complete responsibility for their actions.

All selection committees of the BCCI should be accountable to the Players Association who may be bestowed with the authority to censure any Selector or group of Selectors if required.

The welcome development of this week was the WPL (Woman Premier League) which has brought about a large bid amount of the franchisees and also seen an auction that ensures that the players who have been picked by the franchisees will receive amounts that nobody could have ever imagined even a year earlier. This phenomenon will revolutionise women’s cricket in India and also in the countries where this brand of cricket is played.

As far as we in Hyderabad are concerned we have yet another committee of one person in the form of a Retired Judge appointed by the Supreme Court with the primary mandate to ensure that there is an election conducted and a democratically elected committee is established to administer the game of cricket in Hyderabad.

This has brought a certain amount of cheer to the fans and lovers of the game in the city. The hope is that the next year will revolutionise the way that cricket administration is conducted in the Hyderabad city and its districts.

-Writer is a former Hyderabad and Mumbai Ranji cricketer