Strange are the ways of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The selection of India's squad for the long and arduous tour of Australia has been postponed indefinitely. Chief selector Sandeep Patil and his colleagues held a lengthy meeting at the BCCI headquarters here on Tuesday, but the only 'official' decision they made was replacing the injured Varun Aaron with all-rounder Stuart Binny for the second (November 6) and third (November 9) ODIs of the five-match series against Sri Lanka.
Sample this: Patil, Roger Binny, Vikram Rathour, Saba Karim and Rajinder Singh Hans arrived at the Cricket Centre on Tuesday morning. Soon, they were joined by BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel, the ex officio convenor of the senior national selection committee.
While Patel told a television channel that the committee was going to pick the squad for the remainder of the Sri Lanka series, South Zone selector Binny maintained that they were going to select the team for Australia. More than three hours later, they had nothing much to offer.
Asked what the selectors discussed in the meeting, which lasted three hours, Patel said, "We discussed at length our combination for the Australia series. We have decided that the Test team will be picked at some point — either 9th or 10th, after the Hyderabad game. We will also have to see if there needs to be any change for the remaining ODIs (against Sri Lanka)."
Given that the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee has submitted its report to the Supreme Court, the top brass of the BCCI is jittery. What if the highest court of the land makes public the contents of the report at the next hearing on November 10? And what if the allegations of spot-fixing and betting against the 13 persons — which includes sidelined BCCI president N Srinivasan and a few Team India players — probed by the committee stand proven? While the officials have maintained that the selectors need "more time" to pick the squad for such a demanding tour, the truth is that they are extremely nervous.
Not surprisingly, Patel refuted these claims. "The Mudgal Committee is a matter related to the Supreme Court. First of all, we have not received the report. The matter is sub-judice. The selection committee's meeting has nothing to do with the Mudgal Committee report and we haven't been restrained by the court in that regard. We have time. There is still a fortnight to go for the team's departure. We have enough logistics support and we will manage it," he said.
That India begin their two-month-long tour of Australia — excluding the World Cup, that is — with a two-day practice game in Adelaide (November 24-25), it's imperative that the selectors name the squad without further delay.
The second practice game (also a two-day affair) will be followed by four Tests in the space of 31 days. India will then play a tri-series involving Australia and England. And less than two weeks later, they will have to gear up for their World Cup opener against Pakistan.
"The selectors' decision to delay the naming of the squad defies logic," former India skipper Bishan Singh Bedi said. "I wonder why they flew down to Mumbai for nothing," the legendary spinner added.
A not-so-favourable report, and accompanying sanctions, will spell doom for the cosy club that is the BCCI. Needless to say, the players, if proven guilty, will also have to pay the price. How this affects India's tour of Australia as well as their World Cup campaign is anybody's guess.
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