XtraTime Web Desk: Supreme Court appointed the Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Wednesday had a meeting with the Indian team management to talk about the miscommunication issues between the players and the selectors, a dismal show in the England tour and discuss about the blueprint to do well in the forthcoming tour in Australia.
The meeting was important for the context of Indian cricket as it is clear to everyone that the national selection committee, chaired by MSK Prasad has some problems about communication with players after Karun Nair and Murali Vijay’s exclusion from the test team sparked controversies. Despite being with the Indian team for last 8 tests (including England) the Karnataka batsman, somewhat surprisingly didn’t get a single opportunity while other batsmen in the team failed. He was also unceremoniously dropped from the squad against West Indies at home. Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay too did not find favours with the selectors. Both Nair and Vijay claimed that the selectors didn’t speak to them before dropping them, but Selector in Chief MSK Prasad denied all the allegations and stated that the players were informed.
Though skipper Virat Kohli, Head Coach Ravi Shastri, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma were present at the meeting but no one broke their silence about what happened at the meeting.
“This was an internal meeting of the BCCI and we will not make any comments,” CoA chief Vinod Rai said after the meeting.
The CoA met Shastri, Kohli and Rohit Sharma along with the selection panel. Sharma was there to talk about India’s performance in the Asia Cup, which the team won under his captaincy.
One of the primary subject of discussions was the reported communication breakdown that was extensively discussed after aggrieved players Murali Vijay and Karun Nair spoke openly about the “lack” of it.
Currently, the selectors and the team management are not looking eye to eye, a senior BCCI official told the media.
It was learnt that the Australia series, starting November, was extensively discussed with focus on extra practice games as the India A team would be on a shadow tour of New Zealand.
Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara are set to be part of that set-up.
“We have been assured by New Zealand Cricket that their top A team players will turn up for four-day games. We have also been assured that wickets at Seddon Park in Hamilton will have lot of bounce to replicate the Aussie conditions,” the official said.
The meeting was to also address a few core issues like the code of conduct for centrally-contracted players, and requirement of extra support staff.
Recently, Nair and Vijay went on record stating that there was “no communication” from either the selectors or the team management, an allegation emphatically denied by chairman of selectors Prasad and Rai.
While Prasad has said that his colleague Devang Gandhi has spoken to the concerned players, captain Kohli refrained from making any comments on the issue.
Vijay and Nair’s public statements on the selection committee were seen as a violation of the ‘Code of Conduct’ for the centrally-contracted players.