3 debatable decisions by Indian selectors in recent times
There has been a rumour that BCCI would pull up both Karun Nair and Murali Vijay for their comments on the selection process adopted by the selectors of the Indian cricket team. However, a majority of the Indian fans are in agreement with both the right-hand batsmen as they feel that Karun Nair and Murali Vijay have been treated unfairly by the Indian selectors.
Although this controversy may not have an outcome on India's number 1 priority right now which is the World Cup, it should be noticed that some of the strange decisions of the selectors have baffled both fans and some of the unlucky cricketers too. Let us have a look at a few of such decisions.
#1 Karun Nair not being selected to the West Indies tour
Although Murali Vijay's case seems logical due to the opener's poor form, the decision to ignore Karun Nair should come under the scanner. When scoring a century against a weak team is giving many Indian cricketers the opportunity to play more games, it comes as a shocker that Karun Nair has got only three more games after his triple century against a decent English attack in Chennai.
Another baffling decision has been giving Hanuma Vihari his debut although Karun was touring with the Indian team for 2 months. The decision to axe Karun for the Windies series has drawn the ire of many Indian fans. It will let down the morale of a talented youngster like Karun and he has to repeat all his hard work to get back into the team.
#2 No clarity on the third pacer in the Indian team
An injury to either Bumrah or Bhuvaneshwar will spell doom for the Indian cricket team as there is no clarity on who the 3rd pacer is in the ODI team. The selectors have been rewarding only the IPL performers and Ranji performers such as Rajneesh Gurbani and Navdeep Saini have been ignored.
India has Shardul Thakur, Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Chahar and Khaleel Ahmed behind Bumrah and Bhuvaneshwar and it is shocking that these 4 players do not even have 20 games between them. The selectors have ignored the only experienced bowlers that India have in the shorter format- Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami.
With only a handful of matches left, grooming a fast bowler now is very difficult. The selectors have made a terrible mistake of not giving a run of games to any one specific bowler and they should hope that it will not hurt them.
#3 The wicket-keeper conundrum
It comes as a surprise that the generation gap between MS Dhoni and Rishab Pant is more than a decade-long and India has not given world class wicket-keepers a chance during this time.
The selectors should be blamed for this because they have failed to look beyond MS Dhoni in the last decade. Although Dhoni's form was good, the selectors should have been giving chances to other wicket-keepers as a back-up. Now, all that they are left with is an ageing Dinesh Karthik and a teenage Rishab Pant with only 8 months to go for the World Cup. It looks like the Indian team has no choice but to go ahead with MS Dhoni.