Fix the leaks
Reports of serious disagreement between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the selectors during a meeting to pick the team for the fourth and fifth ODIs against England leaked to a newspaper will create an atmosphere of distrust between the captain and the
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Reports of serious disagreement between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the selectors during a meeting to pick the team for the fourth and fifth ODIs against England leaked to a newspaper will create an atmosphere of distrust between the captain and the selector in question, writes Sunil Gavaskar in his column on dreamcricket.com.
... make no mistake that selector is already known to Dhoni and he will have warned his teammates about him. It won't be a surprise too if the BCCI removes him at the next meeting because the Board is aware how much of a danger such a selector is to Indian cricket. Sure there will never be unanimity in selection meetings and there will invariably be a difference of opinion especially about choosing the fringe players in the squad. It is for this reason that the argument about the common man having faith in the selectors is important. This is a season where two senior players have already called it quits and there are questions about other seniors being asked. In such a scenario the common man needs to feel confident that those taking the call on the seniors know their onions and are not going to succumb to pressure from anywhere.
On the same website, Suresh Menon explains why there is no point in having televised selection meetings.
... the selection committee comprises five men with one single issue.
There is nothing to prevent the chairman having a working dinner at his house where the nitty gritty of selection is thrashed out, the deals are made so that selectors present a united face at the telecast meetings. In how many places are we to fix cameras to catch the selectors discussing selection?
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo