Gavaskar terms selectors 'lame ducks' for reappointing Kohli as skipper without a formal meeting

Tags: Cricket World Cup 2019, India, Virat Kohli, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, Selectors

Published on: Jul 30, 2019

India legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the selectors for reappointing Virat Kohli as skipper without a formal meeting. India was among the favorites

India legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the selectors for reappointing Virat Kohli as skipper without a formal meeting. India was among the favorites to clinch the World Cup but was knocked out by New Zealand in the semi-finals.

Gavaskar is of the view that there should have been a formal meeting to reappoint Kohli as captain. "That they selected the team for West Indies without first having a meeting to select the captain brings up the question of whether Virat Kohli is the captain of the team at his or the selection committee's pleasure," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

"To the best of our knowledge, his appointment was until the World Cup. After that, it was incumbent on the selectors to meet even if it was for five minutes for his reappointment," he further wrote in the column.

The selection committee named Kohli as captain of all three formats for the West Indies tour which kicks off on August 3. As per the Committee of Administrators (CoA), there will be no review of the performance of India in the World Cup apart from the manager's report. Writing further in the Mid-day column, Gavaskar referred to selectors as lame ducks.

"Speaking of lame ducks, the Indian selection committee appears to be one. After the reappointment, he gets invited to the meeting for his views on selecting the players for the team. By bypassing the procedure, the message that goes out is that while the players like Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik get dropped after below expectation performance, the captain continues despite much below par expectations where the team did not even reach the finals," Gavaskar said.

Even as India prepare for the West Indies tour, reports of a rift between skipper Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma are rife.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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