"Disagree With Gavaskar Sir": Sanjay Manjrekar On Virat Kohli's Status As Captain

Sunil Gavaskar had questioned why Virat Kohli was an automatic selection for the post of India captain, saying that the Indian selection committee should have had a formal meeting to reappoint Virat Kohli as skipper of the Indian team. Calling the selection committee "lame ducks", cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar had said that while players like Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik "get dropped after below expectation performance, the captain continues despite much below par expectations". Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar took to Twitter to oppose Gavaskar's take on Virat Kohli's captaincy and his remarks on the Indian selectors.

Countering Sunil Gavaskar, Manjrekar said that India "did not put in a 'much below par WC performance' they won 7 lost two".

Respectfully disagree with Gavaskar Sir with his views on Indian selectors & Virat being retained as capt. No, Ind did not put in a 'much below par WC performance', they won 7 lost two. Last one very narrowly. And integrity a far more important quality as selector than stature.

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 29, 2019

"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 had written in his column for 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 added.

The MSK Prasad-led selection committee named Virat Kohli as captain of the team across all the three formats for the West Indies tour that starts with the first T20I on August 3.

"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 the players for the team. By bypassing the procedure, the message that goes out is that while the players like Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik get dropped after below expectation performance, the captain continues despite much below par expectations where the team did not even reach the finals," Gavaskar said.

Topics mentioned in this article

Sunil Gavaskar Sanjay Manjrekar Virat Kohli India Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Cricket