India have suffered their biggest-ever defeat at home in Test cricket. Two consecutive home series have ended in humiliation. For the first time in 66 years, the team has lost five out of seven Tests. Questions are being raised about the playing XI, the roles assigned to players, and whether the squad picked by chief selector Ajit Agarkar is even capable of winning Test matches.
After the disastrous results against South Africa, the BCCI has finally woken up. Reports suggest that both Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir may be called in for questioning. But the board’s justification for selectors being absent from domestic matches is bizarre: “Scores can be checked on the app.”
In the past two years, more than 30 players have been handed Test call-ups, yet India are nowhere close to settling a stable Test squad. While the board keeps preaching about the importance of domestic cricket, the performances of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, or Sarfaraz Khan don’t seem to matter during team selection. Instead, IPL performers like Nitish Reddy or Harshit Rana are being prioritised.
Gambhir’s choice of the playing XI especially the number three batter has also raised serious concerns. After the series loss to the Proteas, these issues can no longer be brushed aside.
Both Gambhir and Agarkar may be summoned, though this does not indicate that the board has lost faith in them. However, questions remain about the selectors’ absence from domestic cricket. They travel to England to watch India’s matches, they travel to various grounds across India, yet they do not attend domestic games. The justification offered is strange. A board official said, “We will talk to the selectors about the Test failures. But as far as domestic cricket is concerned, the scores can be seen on the app.”
What sense does this logic make? Then what is the point of going to the ground at all? Many are reminding the board of Neville Cardus’s famous saying: “The scoreboard is a donkey.”
