Indian cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar has reportedly raised questions about Virat Kohli's appointment as the Indian skipper for the West Indies series.
Post India's exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Kohli's tenure as India's captain ended but he has automatically continued in his position without renewed selection whereas the management staff of the team are going through the process. Gavaskar's question was, how come he got selected as the captain without being formally re-appointed by the selectors.
"That they selected the team for West Indies without first having a meeting to select the captain brings up the question of whether Virat Kohli is the captain of the team at his or the selection committee's pleasure," Gavaskar wrote in Mid-Day.
"To the best of our knowledge his (Kohli's) appointment was till the World Cup. After that, it was incumbent on the selectors to meet even if it was for five minutes for his reappointment," he further added.
He further questioned how the 30-year-old Indian cricketer gets the say on the team selection. The former World Cup winner mentioned that when players like Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik got dropped due to poor performance, then how come the captain can continue after the below-par performance of the team.
"Speaking of lame ducks, the Indian selection committee appears to be one. After the reappointment, he (captain) gets invited to the meeting for his views on selecting players for the team. By bypassing the procedure, the message that goes out is that, while players like Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik get dropped following below expectation performances, the captain continues despite below-par performance where the team did not even reach the finals."
India crashed out of the World Cup after suffering defeat against New Zealand by 18 runs. The Indian middle-order failed to deliver and questions arose regarding the team selection post the quadrennial tournament. There were also rumours about a rift between Kohli and Rohit Sharma which were later denied by the team management. Certain sections in the BCCI had also spoken up about splitting the captaincy between Kohli and Rohit, looking at the future.
But, the MSK Prasad led selection committee has gone on with Kohli as captain for Windies tour. The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) stated that they will not review the performance of the team and only look at the manager's report.
