On Thursday, as the national selection committee announced the squads for the white-ball series in Sri Lanka, India got a new T20I captain in Suryakumar Yadav. There was no communication from the BCCI as to why Hardik Pandya, who was the vice-captain at the T20 World Cup, wasn’t considered as Rohit Sharma’s successor in the shortest format.
On the face of it, Pandya’s injury record went against him, as the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee and Gautam Gambhir, the new head coach, wanted someone long term, with an eye on the 2026 T20 World Cup that would be played in India and Sri Lanka. But Pandya was completely kept out of the leadership group, with the vice-captaincy going to Shubman Gill in both T20Is and ODIs. A post-selection press conference probably would have cleared the issue. Without it, things moved into the realm of conjecture.
It was surprising that Abhishek Sharma didn’t find a place in the T20I team. The 23-year-old was fresh from a blazing 47-ball 100 against Zimbabwe. That he wasn’t considered, and Riyan Parag was given the nod defied logic. Parag batted in two innings in Zimbabwe and made two and 22 respectively. And yes, with Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the side as first-choice openers, Abhishek could have been considered as a No. 3 option. He batted in that position in Zimbabwe.
Parag was picked in the ODI squad as well at the expense of Sanju Samson. Samson scored a hundred and set up India’s win in his last ODI, in South Africa. Yet again, the selection, or rather non-selection, defied logic.
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Delay over support staff appointments
Moving from team selection to coaching staff appointments, the BCCI is yet to finalise the new batting, bowling and fielding coaches. Usually, the cricket board gives the head coach a free hand to pick his support staff. But this time, some reports are suggesting that certain recommendations made by Gambhir have been shot down by the BCCI hierarchy.
Rewind to 2017, when Ravi Shastri put his foot down and demanded Bharat Arun as his bowling coach. This was after then Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman had recommended Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan as overseas batting and bowling consultants. But Shastri, after becoming India coach, demanded Arun and the BCCI acceded to his request.
Long before that, when Greg Chappell was the head coach of the Indian team, he had Ian Frazer, an expert on biomechanics, as his right-hand man. Frazer doubled up as the bowling coach and eventually messed up Irfan Pathan. There was a lot of discontent over his role in the dressing room and some former India cricketers called out his functioning. But as long as Chappell was in charge, the BCCI allowed Frazer to be by his side.
From that perspective, the BCCI not allowing Gambhir a support staff of his choice would defy logic. The sooner the vacancies are filled, the better. As of now, the NCA support staff is likely to accompany the head coach in Sri Lanka.
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