MSK Prasad recently ended his tenure as team India’s chief selector. During his time at the helm, he and his selection committee made a few tough decisions. A lot of questions were raised on the MSK Prasad-led selection committee over the last few years.
In a recent interview, Prasad speaks on the same and shared how he has a few regrets over the decisions he made. He reveals how his foremost regret is not giving Karun Nair enough chances in the Test team. MSK Prasad shared that Karun Nair should have received more chances in the team.
“I feel Karun Nair especially after getting that triple century, we didn’t give many opportunities. We could’ve given him that comeback opportunity. We did give him the England series but he didn’t get a match to play, but someone who scores 300, this happens very rarely in world cricket, and we couldn’t give him a comeback opportunity is really heart-breaking, not only for him, for all of us,” he said.
Speaking of regrets the 45-year-old also let us in on the thought process of selecting Vijay Shankar over Ambati Raydu for the 2019 WC squad. MSK Prasad recalled that it was the toughest decision he had made and the whole panel felt bad for Rayudu.
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“Second thing is, I also feel bad for Ambati Rayudu, he was in thick and thin of things till the last second of the World Cup and on that day of the selections, he was missed out, there’s no doubt that it’s not only he who felt bad for it, I am sure all of the selection committee, all of the members also feel bad for that,” Prasad further said.
Prasad also recalls the success stories of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal’s emergence during his time as the chairman of selectors.
MSK Prasad said, “One more point to stress is, after the Champions Trophy, we had to move on from Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin and we brought in Kuldeep and Chahal. It’s a wonderful move that has paid rich dividends for us for the next couple of years. Let’s not forget that they were no.1 and no.2 test cricketers when they were left out of the ODI side.”
Prasad was constantly scrutinized as the selector has featured in just 17 ODI’s and only 6 Tests for India. Prasad ‘s inexperience as an international player has always been associated with every decision his committee has taken. He speaks on hero-worship culture in India and said that being a selector is a pure management skill.
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Prasad explains how the number of international matches played has nothing to do with being a selector. Prasad examples how a cricketer who has played more than 100 Tests also failed. He says, “Our culture is hero-worship culture. Whoever has played a lot of cricket, they treat them as the guys who know everything, they may not be know-it-all guys.
“Every field requires its own credentials and its own fundamentals. The selection committee is more about management skills. I’ll give an example, there’s a guy who has played more than 100-120 Tests, not talking about our country, they were a miserable failure as chairman of selectors, so does that mean that the guy who has played a lot of cricket knows it all? No!”, Prasad explains.
