New Delhi:
Farokh Engineer, the former India player, has slammed the current BCCI selectors calling them 'a Mickey Mouse selection committee'. Engineer, who played 46 Tests and five ODIs for India, questioned the credentials and stature of the current selectors. He advocated for experienced players the likes of Dilip Vengsarkar to be part of the selection panel. The current selection panel headed by former India wicketkeeper-batsman MSK Prasad includes Devang Gandhi, Sarandeep Singh, Jatin Paranjpe and Gagan Khoda.
Talking to Times of India, Engineer hailed the influence of Virat Kohli on the Indian team and team selection. However, he did not shared the same attitude towards the selectors.
"We have got a Mickey Mouse selection committee," Engineer told TOI, “Virat Kohli has a major impact which is very good. But how are the selectors qualified? Between them, have they played about 10-12 Test matches. I didn’t even know one of the selectors during the World Cup and I asked him ‘who the hell he was’, because he was wearing the India blazer and he said he was one of the selectors."
"All they were doing was getting Anushka Sharma (Kohli’s wife) cups of tea. I feel people with the stature of Dilip Vengsarkar should be in the selection committee," said Engineer.
Engineer gave the example of Rishabh Pant saying the youngster's case has not been handled well by the selectors. He opined that Pant should have originally made the cut for the ICC World Cup 2019 instead of Dinesh Karthik.
"They shouldn’t have dropped him (from ODIs). They should have picked him ahead of Dinesh Karthik for him to get as much experience with MS Dhoni," Engineer said.
Engineer also criticised al of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) appointed by Supreme Court to run BCCI's affairs.
"They had no idea about cricket. Diana Edulji has played a little cricket but you need somebody who has knowledge of Test cricket, international cricket, international matches. The intention was good from the Supreme Court and the Lodha Committee, but the implementation wasn’t done properly. It was a very very wrong choice of people."
