A cricketer of the stature of Mohinder Amarnath was sacked after a year without any official reason, says a column in The Hindu, adding that here is a player who pulled the likes of Jeff Thompson, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Imran Khan and many others, but couldn’t avoid the bouncer from BCCI.
“It’s a very sad day for Indian cricket. Amarnath was inducted into the selection committee with a lot of fanfare last year and was expected to replace K. Srikkanth as the chairman of the committee. Unless he is told what wrong he did to deserve this treatment, the message is clear; stay within limits. The selection committee is supposed to deliberate on the skills of players. Of course, there will be disputes among the selectors but a picture of unanimity has to be presented. On many occasions selectors have been privately upset on not getting what they wanted, but rarely have I seen a selector rebel,” writes Makarand Waingankar in The Hindu, adding that Pranab Roy was under tremendous pressure when Sourav Ganguly was out of favour, but not once did he succumb to the pressure.
Meanwhile a report in The Times Of India says that former India all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath, famous for having labelled the national selectors a 'bunch of jokers' during his playing days, has been unceremoniously sacked from the national selection committee.
Amarnath's last selection meeting in Mumbai had resulted in a battle of words with the rest of the selectors over retaining MS Dhoni as the captain of the Indian Test team. He seems to have paid the price for that brief but well-reported squabble. Replacing Amarnath in the North Zone as national selector is former India wicketkeeper-batsman Vikram Rathore.
Former India batsman Sandeep Patil has replaced Krishnamachari Srikkanth as chairman of the senior national selection committee from West Zone. The rest of the committee includes Saba Karim (East), Rajinder Singh Hans (Central) and Roger Binny (South). This was announced by the BCCI after the conclusion of its 83rd Annual General Meeting in Mumbai, on Thursday. Patil, who was heading the National Cricket Academy (NCA), in Bangalore, as coaching director, happens to be the surprise pick among the lot.
