Two Mumbai fast bowlers, two stints

From all indications India will soon have a new chief selector with Ajit Agarkar on the verge of ending his threeyear stint The Indian cricket history book as it were will have another addition to its large ldquosectionrdquo on chairmen of selection committeesAgarkar has copped some flak amid talk that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma mdash both of whom have retired from Test and T20 cricket mdash do not figure in his plans for the 2027 World Cup in southern Africa Agarkar is as articulate as they come and should be allowed even if it makes his employers uncomfortable to clear the air in the mediaIt must be remembered that Agarkar spent a fair amount of time as a cricket pundit and he will understand the need for some clarity But the BCCI is known to shy away from putting the chairman of selectors in front of the media to speak on critical issuesThere was a time when chief selectors were expected to face the media after every selection committee meeting for a series or tour no matter how comfortable or uneasy the chairman might have been while answering probing questions Ramakant Desai was the first chairman of selectors I interacted with and the last Mumbai fast bowler to hold the post before Agarkar was appointed in 2023Desairsquos nervousness while speaking to the media was palpable It was not a pleasant sight While we in the media wanted answers the realisation that a chairman had been appointed to use his knowledge and vast playing experience to select teams mdash not to impress everyone with his command of the spoken word mdash was sometimes lostDesai replaced Gundappa Vishwanath in the second half of 1996 and began facing the heat when India lost three consecutive matches to South Africa in the Titan Cup India won the last two games of the triangular tournament mdash the penultimate match against Australia in Mohali and the final against South Africa in Mumbai mdash which was quite unexpectedAway Test defeats against the West Indies and South Africa added to Desairsquos stress as did some disappointing performances in oneday cricket Those results eventually contributed to Sachin Tendulkar losing the captaincy before the 1998 home Test series against AustraliaI remember Desai having to field questions after the Board Presidentrsquos XI team was announced to play Australia following Mumbairsquos victory over the tourists at the Brabourne Stadium in February 1998 He could not continue as chairman of selectors as India began its threeTest series against Australia in Chennai Kishan Rungta the Central Zone selector took over and proved to be adept at handling the media and explaining selection decisions convincinglySeasoned journalists were tackled with aplomb at press conferences I remember him being asked why his selection committee had not picked a particular bowler His response centred on the fact that the bowlerrsquos own state selectors had dropped him only recently mdash so how could one expect the national selectors to pick himI got on the phone with Desairsquos son Amod on Tuesday evening to find out how his father nicknamed Tiny and already a heart patient at the time had been in the days leading up to a selection meeting and press conferenceAmod recalled his father spending a great deal of time meticulously preparing for those meetings All the former players midday spoke to around the time of Desairsquos death in 1998 brought up the fact that the pressure from the media had taken its toll on this ldquogentle and generousrdquo man That was how his neighbour and former Mumbai teammate Eknath Solkar described him Several of them felt Desai should have given up the chief selectorrsquos post much earlier than he eventually didThere were of course periods when India did well with Desai heading the committee In 1997 India beat Pakistan 41 to win the Sahara Cup in Canada Sachin Tendulkarrsquos team were without regulars such as Javagal Srinath Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad yet players like Abey Kuruvilla Harvinder Singh and Debasis Mohanty did a wonderful job for their captain The top performer was Sourav Ganguly who won four Man of the Match awardsI remember visiting Desai at his Associated Cement Companies ACC office in Churchgate to seek his reaction to the triumph Desai welcomed me warmly happy to oblige a journalist who belonged to a tribe that was more accustomed to vilifying him ldquoAt last a win overseasrdquo he said adding that it had to be his best moment as chairman of selectorsI wonder what Agarkar would rate as his finest moment as chief selector mdash the 2024 T20 World Cup triumph the 2025 Champions Trophy victory or the 2026 T20 World Cup winAmong his low points would the 03 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand in 2024 be the sorest Or the loss in the 202425 BorderGavaskar Trophy series after India had drawn first blood in PerthHopefully Agarkar will be in a position to tell us soonPostscript Chief selectors cannot be fully credited or blamed for triumphs and disasters Perhaps more important is whether their selectorial decisions prove effective even after their terms endmiddayrsquos Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper