5 debatable decisions taken by the current Indian selectors
Being India's national selectors is perhaps the toughest job in world cricket. Team selections in Indian cricket have always been a catch-22 situation, as it is extremely difficult to find the perfect team balance and please the fans and cricket community at the same time.
The current selection committee led by former India wicket-keeper MSK Prasad has been under the scanner after every team selection. While they have been dodging the bullet for a long time, the decisions made by the selection committee in the last couple of months have left the fans scratching their heads.
The current selection committee lacks conviction in it's methods and decisions and have often been found changing it's own stance. There have also been instances where players have spoken about a lack of communication with the selectors. Even though Prasad has denied any such allegations, there can't be smoke without fire. The recent Test team selection for the challenging tour of Australia and T20 team selections for the series against West Indies and Australia has raised questions over the selection policies as well.
We will look at 5 such debatable decisions taken by the current selection committee in the recent past.
#5 Dropping Shami from the ODI side while persisting with Umesh Yadav
Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav were selected in the ODI side for the series against West Indies. Both the pacers, who have been preferred more in Tests, were given a chance to prove their ODI credentials against West Indies. While none of them did exceptionally well in the first two ODIs, to the surprise of many, Shami was dropped from the side for the remainder of the series, while Umesh Yadav made the cut.
Shami gave away 140 runs in the two matches while picking up 3 wickets, Umesh gave away 142 runs picking up just a single wicket. Shami was wayward in the first ODI, but was excellent in his second spell in the second ODI and along with the spinners, helped India snatch a tie from the jaws of defeat.
Umesh on the other hand looked flat and failed to create an impression. However, the selectors had a different opinion and felt that Umesh is a better option than Shami.