Selection panel has been at work, teams have been chosen, but no official word yet
BENGALURU: Most of the leagues conducted by the Karnataka State Cricket Association have either ended or are at the business end. A state team comprising senior and junior players won an away series against Namibia last month. Over the past few days, four different teams played a two-day match, a one-dayer and two T20s against Mumbai, who are training in the city.
Who is selecting these teams?
The KSCA is yet to officially name the selection committees for men and women and the coaches. A select group of cricketers has been picked as selectors and has attended various league matches for over two months. That said, none of them have been handed contracts yet. No information about the committees is available on the association's website.
"The selectors have been watching senior and age group matches, picking zonal and state teams, and submitting them to KSCA. There has been only verbal communication and their contract details, including remuneration, are yet to be discussed," revealed a source.
K Ashwath, who was part of the selection panel last season, represented KSCA at the South Zone selection committee meeting to pick the team for Duleep Trophy last month. Former KSCA vice president J Abhiram was the state representative at the meeting to select the SZ team for Deodhar Trophy. The former all-rounder, according to sources, is tipped to take over as the chairperson of the men's selection committee.
Questions have been raised about the teams picked for matches against Mumbai, with some surprise inclusions, but with little transparency on team selection, there are no convincing answers.
"We will announce the various committees next week. The cricket committee, constituted by the MC, has recommended the selection panels. Due to the Indian Premier League and other domestic matches, the managing committee (MC) meeting to ratify the appointments was delayed. We also wanted to finalise the women's committees. The recommendations must then be passed in the MC before being announced," said KSCA president Raghuram Bhat.
Asked how the teams were being selected and in what capacity the current 'selectors' functioned, Bhat stated, "Since the KSCA season had begun, we did not want the game to suffer or deserving players to miss out. So we requested the members nominated to various selection panels to discharge their duty. They will get their contracts soon."
Bhat said coaches for the state teams were also being finalised and would be announced shortly.
HOW IT WORKS
According to KSCA's Memorandum of Association (MoA) & rules, the managing committee constitutes a five-member Cricket Committee which appoints selection committees and the coaches. The selection committees for men are in the senior, U-23, U-19 and U-16& U-14 categories, while the women's set-up comprises senior and junior selection panels.
