Selectors make embarrassing errors in Irani Cup squad

The Indian selectors have picked an injured player to represent Rest of India in the Irani Cup, and left out another on fitness grounds after having originally selected him. The state association of the player who's been left out claims he is fit. The concerned players are Delhi and Mumbai Indians left-arm seamer Pawan Suyal and Jharkhand and Deccan Chargers batsman Ishank Jaggi.

On September 23 the Champions League Twenty20 technical committee allowed Mumbai Indians to field five foreign payers because of an unprecedented count of injuries in the squad. One of the injured players was Suyal. A day after the Champions league made the announcement through a release that went to media houses around the world, the BCCI selected Suyal, and also mis-spelt his name as B Suval, for the Irani Cup. Suyal confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he underwent a knee surgery two-and-a-half months ago and was aiming at a return in December.

However, a hurried corrigendum from BCCI only corrected the spelling. It also mentioned that the selectors had just discovered that Jaggi was injured and would be replaced by Karnataka's C Gautam. Later in the day the Jharkhand Cricket Association (JCA) told Indian Express that Jaggi was fit and was part of Jharkhand's Ranji Trophy preparatory camp.

"As far as Pawan Suyal is concerned, we didn't know about his injury," the new BCCI secretary and convenor of selectors Sanjay Jagdale told the Indian Express. "We have the main players on our database but we are not aware of injuries to every single first-class cricketer in the country." R Vinay Kumar, the Karnataka seamer, has replaced Suyal in the squad.

Jaggi found support from his state association. The JCA claimed that Jaggi, who had suffered a knee injury during the fourth edition of the IPL while playing for Deccan Chargers, was back to full fitness and training with the state team. "As far as the JCA is concerned, I can tell you that he is fit and presently is even taking part in our Ranji camp," JCA secretary Rajesh Verma told the Indian Express. "We consulted BCCI's authorised doctor Anant Joshi a month ago and he had told us that Ishank did not require any surgery.

"They should have conducted his fitness test if they wanted to pick him for Irani Cup. Jaggi was never called to Bangalore [to the National Cricket Academy] for a test. There is no point in dropping a player when you have not conducted any test."

When asked about Jaggi, Jagdale said: "In Ishank Jaggi's case we went by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) physio's report, which had suggested a surgery but now we will see what can be done."

According to JCA, Jaggi had approached the NCA after his injury, and was advised by the BCCI physio Nitin Patel to undergo surgery in England. Verma further told the paper that Patel failed to acquire an appointment with orthopedic surgeon Andrew Wallace in London whereupon Jaggi was asked by Deccan Chargers and the JCA to meet Joshi.

This fiasco comes days after the BCCI announced a new Under-19 captain for the upcoming quadrangular only to later discover that his date of birth in the BCCI records didn't match the one on his passport.