There is a lot of speculation about the team management dominating, it isn't right: MSK Prasad

42-year-old MSK Prasad has made a smooth transition from a former Indian cricketer with 23 international matches and a little over 200 runs to the chairman of the selection committee. For someone who made it to the national set up on the basis of merit after playing in the domestic circuit with a not so popular team Andhra Pradesh, Prasad is aware of the struggles cricketers go through and the challenges they face each day.

Keeping Indian spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja out of the limited-overs squad without hitting the headlines consistently can be termed as a professional task. It was being said initially that the players have been rested, while later rotation was coined while both Ashwin and Jadeja apart from the cricketing circuit knows the word on offer is ‘dropped’.

KL Rahul was initially backed by the selectors but later the wise men preferred a specialist at the no.4 spot. Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav were added to the mix and of late Dinesh Karthik has come in the scheme of things. “The team management, the selection committee… All of us are definitely concerned about it (the No. 4 slot),” Prasad said in Mumbai on Monday. “And that’s the reason we are trying (different players) before a big event comes up or before we finalise a final squad for a major event; by then we will try out different options, and there are some of the guys who are doing (well) at India A level. We will keep trying options before we close in on a particular squad”

The chairman also said that there is no domination in the air when the officials sit along with the Indian skipper and the team management.”With regard to our relationship with team management, it has been cordial so far,” stressed Prasad. “There is a lot of speculation that the team management is dominating, which is not right. They are very much on advisory board and that’s all. We take their suggestion and pick the team and there is also a selector on call (while selecting the XI), so we work in unison.”

Healthy relation between the selectors and management is key: Sekhar

Former Indian cricketer and selector TA Sekhar stressed on a healthy relationship between the management as he feels it is the key to getting things together.”There’s no two ways about it. Captain, coach and selectors have to work together,” Sekhar told Cricbuzz. “And, there has to be respect for each other. In India, often we only think about how many matches a player has played in his career. A selector should be unbiased and truthful to the job. A selector will be pulled in different directions – the BCCI, the coach, the captain, will all have their views.”

Selectors are no god

Sekhar also expressed his views on why selectors can’t be immune to blunders all the time. “You have to select a player based on domestic performances. There is a huge difference in the level of opposition and the challenges between domestic and international cricket. This is where the selector has to use his judgement. There will be times when two players have similar records in domestic cricket. Then the selector has to go by the hunch he has, based what he has seen of a player,” said Sekhar. “You ask yourself the conditions somebody scored runs in, the match situation in which he did well. And in cases when it’s two very similar players, the selector has to give the captain the final choice.”