One is aware that even the chairman of the national selection committee, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, has, in inimitable fashion, put his foot in his mouth, when he said Yuvraj Singh is all ready to take Sourav Ganguly’s vacated place in the Test batting order. This statement was the result of the Punjab left-hander scoring two successive ODI centuries against an England team that seemed more rattled on the field than even the employees and the guests of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai when the terrorists struck.
In his playing days, Srikkanth was a sort of joker in the pack and it is one of those ironies he is still remembered for his knock of 39 against the West Indies in the World Cup final in 1983. Of course, had India lost the final, the Tamil Nadu player would never have been remembered.
However, ever since then, he has not stopped talking and maybe this has helped him become the chairman of the selection committee. For someone who averaged less than 30 in both Tests and ODIs, it is rather a privileged position to be in. Has there been anyone luckier in Indian cricket, even captaining the country by default?
The talking disease has been passed on to Yuvraj. Take this statement attributed to this player. Answering a question about his getting back into the Test team, Yuvraj replied, “Hopefully that will happen. Now that Sourav Ganguly has retired I really hope to fit into his shoes and deliver it for the country.”
The point is, Yuvraj has been encouraged to talk in this vein because of Srikkanth. It is unfair to other aspirants for the same batting position, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma, unless of course, Srikkanth has already convinced his co-selectors about Yuvraj’s credentials. It is an unhealthy trend and should be discouraged by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Also, why is so much of a fuss being made about a leak from the proceedings of the selection committee, when the chairman is a blabbermouth?