Revealed: The qualification of Indian selectors
BCCI under the regime of Shashank Manohar started a cleanup campaign to regain the trust of fans after the 2013 match-fixing incident and N. Srinivasan’s conflict of interest case.
In the process to clean up, BCCI has shown world cup winning legend Roger Binny the door as the Indian cricket governing body want to abolish conflict of interest at all level in the game. So on Monday at Annual General Committee. BCCI replaced Roger with MSK Prasad, who played only 6 Test and 17 ODIs for India.
Roger Binny, was the selection committee member from South Zone of India. His son Stuart Binny was selected for Indian national team for 5 consecutive series. Stuart’s performances were not impressive, excluding his SSC Colombo Test where Binny took two wickets in the second innings of the match. Stuart was also selected for the first two match of the four match “Gandhi-Mandela” Test series but was released to play the Ranji trophy fixture for Karnataka.
There were allegations, wrongly perhaps, that Stuart was getting selected for Indian national team because of the nepotism as his father Roger was a selection committee member.
So removing Roger Binny was a good decision from BCCI and also the fact that a world cup winner should not get involved in a conflict of interest allegations.
But, BCCI has made some changes in the selection committee after Roger’s departure. Some of the little-known faces have been selected in the five-member national selection committee.
MSK Prasad has replaced Roger from the South zone while Gagan Khoda has replaced Rajinder Hans from the West Zone. The other two members of the selection committee are Vikram Rathour and Saba Karim who will represent North and East Zone. The selection committee will be headed by Sandeep Patil.
Now, have a look the qualification of the selection committee members.
Sandeep Patil
The former Indian batsman is the convenor of the Selection Committee. The biggest achievement of his life is the 2003 World Cup semifinal as a head coach of Kenya, who lost the match to India. He was temperamental batsmen. His dashing batting and ability to own the medium pace made him the foundation of Indian middle order for quite a few years. His 174 against Australia at Adelaide was the highlight of his career. He played 29 Tests for India. His average was 36.93. He hit 4 hundred. He also played 45 ODIs for India.
Saba Karim
He was tragic wicket keeper batsman. He has scored 7310 first class runs at an average of 56.66. But, selector did not pay heed to his performance. Nayan Mongia was the first choice wicket keeper. But, when Mongia was not in the squad in 1999 World Cup squad MSK Prasad and Sameer Dighe was preferred by selectors. But, the talented wicket-keeper from Bihar when finally got a chance to play the Asia cup; a ball struck his right eye off the delivery of Anil Kumble and was injured while keeping the wicket. His career was ruined.
MSK Prasad
Prasad admitted that he was surprised after hearing the news that BCCI has appointed him the selector from the South zone. Prasad had himself faced selection dilemma during his playing days. He played 6 Tests and 17 ODIs. During those matches, he played as a makeshift wicketkeeper in the absence of Nayan Mongia.
Prasad’s first class performance was not good. He played 96 first class matches and scored 4021 runs at an average of 27.73. In the 1999 World cup selections overlooked Saba Karim’s performance and chose Prasad for the tournament along with Sameer Dighe.
Now Prasad has replaced Roger. Will he justify his selection in place of Roger Binny?
Vikram Rathour
Rathour was an exciting talent from Punjab in the 1990s. He was a good hitter of the ball. He was a promising opening batsman. His first class cricket performance was fine. He played 6 Test and 7 ODIs. In those matches, he looked promising. But, a flop show in England, where his highest score 20 had ended his India career.
Gagan Khoda
Khoda was a right-handed batsman from Rajasthan. In the 1991-92 season, he played remarkably well. He played two ODIs for India – one against Bangladesh and other against Kenya. Khoda scored 89 against Kenya in the second match. But, he was never considered a for selection after 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia.
Khoda played 132 first class matches and scored 8516 at an average of 39.06. His highest scored was unbeaten 300.