The outgoing Chairman of the selection committee MSK Prasad has come under the scanner many times for his lack of experience as an India player and also back for the youngsters despite failing to do well. The former wicket-keeper batsman, who was in the Chairman’s post for three years, gave the examples of Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari and Prithvi Shaw as well.
“Players are identified on the basis of consistency in the last two years in major domestic events. Then, they are given the India-A platform to show their skills,” MSK Prasad told Sportstar. “The shadow tours, one month before the seniors’ tours, are the key to our central idea of building the reserve strength. So, we take pride in the grooming process of young talent or what you call the bench strength.”
“All the managements of India-A, the Indian senior team and the NCA are involved in this planning of player succession. We identified a pool of 25 to 30 players and groomed them. In addition, we also picked 60 to 70 players from domestic cricket, apart from India-A. We are watching them. For the next six to eight years, there need not be any worry about any department.”
According to him, the bench strength always helps the members motivated and under pressure as well. He further explained that the workload and injured player’s returns depend on the situation on hand.
“The workload database is always there. A chart is prepared for each player. We all sit together and take a decision on a particular player. An injured player on comeback will be given preference if he has been performing well prior to the break. Well, if someone else comes in and does extremely well, he will definitely have a better chance. So, one has to wait. A judgement has to be made depending on that particular case,” he added.
“It is about winning the confidence of the heavyweights. I always keep saying that it is not important as to how many matches you have played before becoming a selector. It depends as to how good you are in management. I am a management student. So, the team management should have confidence in us. Earlier, there were public spats on selection. But, never in our term. Well, it is good to have a difference of opinion. Because of our management skills, the transition of teams or players was very smooth,” added MSK Prasad.
“I always thought I could be a selector, but never the chairman of the panel (laughs). What I have handled in BCCI so far is not even 10 per cent of what I did in Andhra. For everything there is a system in the BCCI. So, all that we can do in BCCI is to add a few more dimensions which are successful. And, we take pride in the number of success stories in the Indian team, as most of them were groomed by us in the last two or three years. This is what gives us great satisfaction,” shared the outgoing selector.
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Prasad, however, said that the series against South Africa and England was the major disappointments during his term and he also said that India had a bad day in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.
“Whenever you discuss with the team management with an unbiased and open mind, you gain confidence. We come out with names with which they are comfortable, for they are based on performances, with a thorough process behind that. Earlier, some unknown faces were thrown up. This never happened in our term. Every player is groomed in a systematic way, like Shreyas Iyer was for two years with India-A. And look at Navdeep Saini, a raw pacer from Delhi. We picked him for the Board President’s XI team. And, he is doing very well now,” explained MSK Prasad.
However, the selection committee has cleared that they will back the youngsters over MS Dhoni, who has made himself unavailable since long.
“As far as we are concerned, we are backing youngsters and giving them as many opportunities to settle well and play long. Mahi will take a decision for himself. As a panel member, if I keep professional duty aside, I am as big a fan of Dhoni as anyone else. He has achieved everything under the sun winning two World Cups, the Champions Trophy, the No. 1 Status in Tests. Nobody can question that. About his career, he will take a call. As selectors, our duty is to move on and identify the next generation of players and keep giving them chances,” MSK Prasad concluded.
