As India have suffered two heavy defeats in the ongoing T20 World Cup and are staring at elimination without making it to the semi-finals, the battle lines are being drawn by former cricketers and analysts over what went wrong for Virat Kohli’s men in the tournament.
While failure with the bat and lack of penetration with the ball have been emphasised in nuanced analyses, personnel have also been under stern scanners.
One of the biggest talking points before the selection of India’s squad for the tournament and also during the tournament has been the fitness and form of Hardik Pandya. Pandya did not bowl in the Indian Premier League and simultaneously lost form with the bat from the first phase of the tournament.
Former national selector Sarandeep Singh has now questioned the claims made by the current chairman of the selection committee Chetan Sharma in which he had said that Pandya was fit and would be bowling a full quota of overs in the T20 World cup.
He questioned the lack of transparency from the current selection committee and said that during his tenure, players’ availability and fitness were made public appropriately which he says has not happened in this case.
He said that the all-rounder has found himself in a needless controversy and that it’s Chetan Sharma’s job to explain what happened to the squad and why he was picked without a full assessment of his injury and availability with the ball.
“Hardik Pandya’s fitness issues are being talked about for a while now, but why don’t you ask the selection committee about this? We used to answer all questions during our tenure – if someone was unfit or anything – everything used to be open. But why isn’t it the same anymore? Chetan Sharma addressed the media just once, and he spoke something strange and walked away,” Sarandeep Singh said to Sportskeeda.
"When the chairman of the selection committee said he’s fully fit and he will bowl in the World Cup, so the chairman needs to be questioned now where is the fitness. He needs to say something – he is injured, he is not able to bowl, something. It’s unfair on Hardik as well, a quality player is stuck in controversy for no fault of his. If the injury is there, it’s okay, can’t do much about it.”
Another former selector, Sandeep Patil, who was the chief national selector before the selection committee comprising of Sarandeep Singh, had questioned Chetan Sharma on similar lines. He had also fixed the responsibility on the head coach Ravi Shastri and skipper Virat Kohli for playing Pandya in the playing XI.
“His (Pandya) selection in the XI is up to the captain and the coach, and only the BCCI will know about it. But basically, if a player is not fit, then it comes to the selectors. If he didn’t bowl in the entire IPL, the selectors should have taken a call. They should have asked for a fitness test before including him in the team for the World Cup,” Patil had said to Times of India.