'We cannot be run by public opinion' - Niranjan Shah

[DesiChap]

'We cannot be run by public opinion' BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah responds to MIHIR SRIVASTAVA's questions about the ouster of Saurav Ganguly and the Board's changing policies. Photo:Pradeep Mandhani Why was Ganguly not selected for the one-day team? I was not part of the selection committee so I cannot say anything about it. The selection committee has gone for youngsters and they have emphasised on fielding. They are looking at the future. Do you not think the team selection should reflect top 16 available players? No. We have a lot of cricket to be played. Many players feel that there is too much of cricket. We have to go for rotation (policy). And must (have) a bigger pool of players. The buzz is that Dhoni insisted for youngsters that the lead selection committee should drop Ganguly. It was a collective decision. The captain can only give his opinion. He has no vote. It is not this fellow or that fellow. It is totally a collective decision. What is the idea of this rotation policy? To give players rest. They play so much cricket these days, they may need rest. So will this rotation policy apply to players like Tendulkar or will it be used selectively? See, when there is so much of international cricket lined up for future there are all the chances that players might get injured or something like this. And we should be able to replace them. Immediately after this there is a three match series against South Africa. After that there is a full series against Sri Lanka. There's lots of cricket to be played. My question is whether the rotation policy be applied to Tendulkar? Doesn't he also run the risk of getting injured? If he wants rest, why not? Ganguly did not want to rest. He is very disappointed. There is a certain combination you require in the team. Suppose there are five one day series. He will play three. We will actually help him. As you just said, players can rest even when they are in the team, if they want. But not selecting a good performer, doesn't it send the wrong message? How senior players feel about the workload, they can always go and ask for a rest. There were a lot of protests on Ganguly’s ouster because people felt it was unjustified. It is happening only in Bengal. There are protests in Bangalore for Rahul. There is no end to this. We have a selection committee that is technically very sound. They are yesteryear’s players. They know what the combination should be. We cannot be run on public opinion. There is a need for a bigger pool (of players). There is no doubt about it. Why only certain players are seen to be targeted? Suppose we are basically using only three fast bowlers…then we will soon be without bowlers. We are discussing batsman here.. The selectors were looking for a young team. Isn't the Australia tour too important to be experimenting with players? The youngsters who will play well in Australia will emerge as the best players for the future. For the sake of argument, what is the more important criterion for selection: performance or rotation policy? Would you drop the best performing players for rotation policy? Rahul's performance is not there. Lakshman's performance is not there. I am talking about Ganguly. He has done well. Lakshman has done well too. We are talking about ODI. Selection was made for ODIs. Why are you looking at ODI? Actually, it is a selection committee matter. We do not get into it. Putting new blood to test, why only for ODIs, why not for test cricket? Test cricket is very important for any (one playing) world cricket. Many people do not see it but for us it is very important. All these one-day players like to be test players. But why is this rotation policy is not applicable to test cricket? Why look at tests, there are domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy. One day cricket requires a lot of energy, so fielding capability has to be seen, everything has to be seen. But the tests are a real test for cricket players. The tests are very important for every country. We like to be a test winning country and not a one-day winning country. Youngsters need lot of cricketing abilities to stay there for five days. In ODI you may just go in and slog couple of overs, here you have to play for five days. After all, they get to play the long form of cricket in domestic cricket. http://tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=Ne020208we_cannot.asp

[talksport]

:hysterical:

[eternalhope]

True, we can only be run by Clowns

[anbuchelvan]

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Guest HariSampath]

well...on this I cannot disagree with Niranjan Shah. He has clearly stated some very valid points , repeatedly and it was this reporter who was a buffoon. Shah has said it was the prerpgative of the selection committee, the captain had an opinion, fielding was considered important, we wanted a younger team for ODIs, we are planning to follow a rotation policy with a larger pool of players considering amount of cricket to be played. It is clear enough, why does this reporter keep asking the same questions again and again ?

[IndianRenegade]

........We like to be a test winning country and not a one-day winning country....

NONSENSE!

[gator]

Agreed Hari.... the reporter is a clown who thinks he is smart by asking the same question in different voices...

[chanakya]

well...on this I cannot disagree with Niranjan Shah. He has clearly stated some very valid points ' date=' repeatedly and it was this reporter who was a buffoon. Shah has said it was the prerpgative of the selection committee, the captain had an opinion, fielding was considered important, [b']we wanted a younger team for ODIs, we are planning to follow a rotation policy with a larger pool of players considering amount of cricket to be played. It is clear enough, why does this reporter keep asking the same questions again and again ?

so why we?

[King Tendulkar]

actually thought his answers were sensible, agree with a lot of what he said

[Dooks]

What an idiot. How did he become the secretary! The mind boggles.

[prince40]

niranjan shah is scum

[The Outsider]

I don't see how Niranjan Shah could have been any clearer in his interview about selections.

[MundaPakistani]

'We cannot be run by public opinion' - Niranjan Shah Yeah but you can certainly confuse the public with conflicting talks and a sudden change of 'facts'.