Srikkanth has lost a few fans

The audacity of opener Srikkanths strokes helped him earn fans in an era when India was coming to grips with ODIs.

The audacity of opener Krishnamachari Srikkanths strokes helped him earn fans in an era when India was coming to grips with One-day International cricket. Such was the excitement of watching him play that people overlooked his inconsistency and appreciated his derring-do. Unfortunately,Srikkanths indiscretion as selector hasnt had the same effect.

Yes,India won the World Cup and rose to become the No.1 Test team under Srikkanths chairmanship. But these highs cant hide the fact that a number of decisions taken by his selection committee have been questionable. As chairman of a committee comprising Narender Hirwani,Surendra Bhave,Raja Venkat and Yashpal Sharma replaced by Mohinder Amaranth,Srikkanth remained the key decision-maker.

Under his tenure,he allowed a round of musical chairs between Virender Sehwag,Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli for vice-captaincy. Also does Srikkanth have a logical answer to why pacer Ashish Nehra never played international cricket since the World Cup semi-final? Why has Praveen Kumar suddenly deemed unfit to play any form of the game since March this year? Are Munaf Patel,Abhimanyu Mithun and RP Singh still in the mix? Why has spinner Rahul Sharma,who gets picked for all formats,suddenly been downgraded to India A when hes done well. And then theres Piyush Chawla,who keeps making the team like he is some lucky mascot.

The uncomfortable questions dont stop here. Why did Srikkanths committee pick 32-year old Subramaniam Badrinath as replacement for VVS Laxman when he couldnt fit into the XI. Why was opener Abhinav Mukund dropped and Ajinkya Rahane picked for Tests and then Rahane subsequently dropped from the ODIs,a format in which the Mumbai batsman has performed? Also Saurabh Tiwary and Ravindra Jadeja seem to have vanished from the selectors radar.

India A teams and Rest of India squads have been randomly picked giving a sense that the zonal quota system rather than talent prevailed with regard to certain selections. The decision to pick players like Rohit Motwani,Kedhar Jadhav,Anirudha Srikkanth,Udit Birla,Akshay Darekar have raised eyebrows because there were alternatives who were more capable. As countrys first paid selection panel targeting,Srikkanth and Co. failed to raise the bar high. gs.vivekexpressindia.com