Former India chairman of selectors, Kiran More, isn’t one bit pleased with how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Earlier today, the board announced an 18-man squad for India’s Test series against England. And More thinks that head coach Gautam Gambhir and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar haven’t done a great job.
BCCI’s transition failure
About two weeks ago, both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket. The move came as a surprise to the general public, but the BCCI would have surely planned for it. Both players were over 35, and their performance, more so in Kohli’s case, wasn’t great.
Yet the board wasn’t 100% certain on who would replace Rohit as India’s Test captain. More thinks that BCCI had one and a half years to prepare for a transition that was coming sooner rather than later, but they have failed on this front. One mustn’t forget, More was the chairman of selectors from 2002 to 2006, so he knows a fair few things.
“First thing, I’m surprised. The whole selection committee and coach should’ve thought about this, that this (transition) was going to come. Now, suddenly, everybody has woken up, and now they’re asking who should be the next captain. They should’ve been prepared. I feel we haven’t prepared for 1.5 years; this is a big wake-up call for us,” Kiran More said on Jio Hotstar.
India to struggle in England, says More
Now, India would be going to England with Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran, who are yet to make their Test debut. Karun Nair, who hasn’t played international cricket in 8 years. Gill has a 5-match captaincy experience, that too against Zimbabwe in T20Is. More isn’t hopeful of India winning; he, in fact, thinks it’ll be a major struggle.
“I don’t expect any miracles on this (England) tour because I think India is going to struggle,” he added.
India Test squad for England
Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal. KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
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