I know how much they respect me, says MSK Prasad on Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni

MSK Prasad, the Indian chief selector has been criticised on numerous occasions by the fans and former cricketers over his selection criteria. He was also brought under the scanner for selecting Vijay Shankar over Ambati Rayudu in the 2019 World Cup squad. But, now he has opened up on why he along with his panel had to take contentious selection calls.

The former Indian wicketkeeper took the charge of selector back in September 2016. Before that, he was part of the selection committee. Recently, he had faced backlashes for stating that the team management is moving on from MS Dhoni with all focus on nurturing the young wicketkeepers.

MSK Prasad opines on the team selection policy 

In a recent interview, MSK Prasad said that he doesn’t want to talk about selection procedures and feels that constitutional changes that were made at that time played an important role while picking the team on the tour. Usually, the squad is picked by the selectors but a final call on the playing XI is always taken by the team management. However, according to him, the selector’s view was also taken into the account, who used to travel with the squad in that particular outing.

“I don’t want to talk too much about those two things but all I can say is that there were some constitutional changes that were made at that time with regards to selectors playing a role in picking the playing XI on tour. But we had to show faith in the decisions that the team management took at that point in time.” MSK Prasad said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

He also recited that there were no issues at number four position until Shikhar Dhawan got injured. As per Prasad, KL Rahul was doing well at that questionable position. “Tell me, did we have a problem till the semifinal with No. 4?. We went into the World Cup with Shikhar Dhawan opening and KL Rahul at number four. They did the job until unfortunately Dhawan got injured and that is when we flew in Rishabh Pant. I don’t think we lost because of the No. 4 issue.” he said.

MSK Prasad also added that he used to take advice from the legendary cricketers that helped him a lot throughout his tenure. And, shares a good relationship with MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. “During this tenure, I used to take advice from legendary cricketers which helped. My relationship with MSD (MS Dhoni) and (Virat) Kohli are intact. People might write anything but when I speak to them, I know how much they respect me.” he added.

He is currently moving in the last month as the Indian chief selector and there are reports that he might get an extension for the next two years but it is still not confirmed. The decision is expected to be taken in the Annual General Meeting that is scheduled to be held on December 1.

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