Politics: Cricket Selection As Karun Nair Is Dropped After A Triple Century

Right from the time cricket came to India and the Indian team played their first test at lords, the bane of Indian cricket is parochialism, sectarianism, and politics and a big part are also led by the letter J. This stands for jealousy. One can recollect the politics played by Lala Amarnath the Chairman of the selection committee in the fifties and sidelining of Umrigar from the captaincy. One can also remember when the two doyens of Indian cricket the two Vijays. Hazare and Merchant batted out an entire two days in trying to beat the other and the result was, India

missed a golden chance for victory.

This sorry state of affairs continued and the dropping of Kapil Dev at the instance of Gavaskar for the Calcutta test against the MCC is well known.  The result of all this politics is that Indian cricket has not flowered and we have remained at the bottom rungs of the ladder in test cricket, which all agree is the acid test of the game. Even as late as just a few seasons away after catastrophic defeats abroad under MS Dhoni, when Indian cricket prestige was reduced to a great extent the President of the board used his casting vote to overrule the removal of Dhoni as captain. The result? Indin cricket was set back by a decade.

Something similar has happened now in the first test against Bangladesh. The man Karun Nair who had scored a triple century in the last test against England has been sacked. One will have to rub his eyes

in disbelief and wonder what prompted Kohli to do this. The Indian captain is Virat Kohli and he has to answer why this happened.  I will also like to point out that in a history of 140 years of test cricket this has never happened. No man who hit a triple century has ever been dropped, but in India, with a hero-worshipping attitude the act of Virat Kohli is overlooked and the excuse given is " bench strength". Mind you, India has yet to win an away series in South Africa and Austraila so the bench strength is not only not understood but mischievous

Is it possible that the Indian captain who has yet to hit a triple century is making an ego clash? Should not the board have intervened? By keeping silent the seeds of destruction of the career of a brilliant player is sowed. Karun Nair hit a great 303 not out and India won by an innings. who will bear the cross for this bloomer? I am afraid it is better to label it as the age-old disease of Indian cricket-politics. One had expected Kohli to lead as a nationalist, but he has allowed petty politics and perhaps the letter J to overrule sane thoughts and dropped Nair. I don't think India will ever win abroad in Australia and South Africa with this approach.  God save Indian cricket.