New Delhi: The chairman of the Indian cricket selection committee K Srikkanth has said that “there will be another Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian team soon”. Talking to News 24’s editor-in-chief Anurradha Prasad in her weekly show ‘Aamne Samne’, Srikanthh assured the Indian fans saying “another Sachin will come, just wait and see. In 1989, when Tendulkar came, nobody knew he will become the great Sachin Tendulkar. Similarly another Sachin will emerge in India”.
Aamne-Samne with Srikkanth will be aired tomorrow (October 30) at 8.30 pm on News 24.Srikkanth also said that he does not see Sachin playing the next World cup in 2015. He told Anurradha Prasad, “It will be very ambitious of him. I think it is very doubtful. I don’t see him playing the next World cup considering his age and body. It’s 4 years away”.
According to Srikkanth, the senior players in the team know quite well what to do in terms of their playing career. He said, “Sachin, Dravid and Laxman will know when to retire as they are not only great cricketers but also good human beings. It’s very difficult to find a direct replacement for these players. We are adopting a ‘trial and error’ method to see who can take their place”.
The dashing former Indian opener said that the idea of split captaincy may have worked in India but he doesn’t see the need of it in the Indian team and hasn’t thought about it. Srikkanth said, “ Why do we still have this colonial hangover? If England and Australia have adopted it, doesn’t mean we should also do it. We are doing well this way”.
Srikkanth is confident that India will be back as the no 1 test side in 18-20 months from now. He opined “I can assure you that we will be the no 1 test side in 18-20 months from now. We have the talent. England series was a bad dream. We will also go up in the ODI ranking”.
“We lost so badly in England as the players could not adjust to the weather, lot of players got injured and the luck also didn’t favour us”. Srikkanth also revealed that he did offer to resign after the England debacle as “someone had to take the responsibility”. He said, “I took the responsibility for England debacle. I don’t blame the players and the captain for the loss, it was just a bad dream”.
Srikkanth said, he agreed to extend his tenure as chief selector since he wanted to serve the country even though in his opinion it is a thankless job. He said, when the team wins, the captain and the team gets the credit but when the team loses, selectors get the blame. It is a thankless job.” He also denied claims that Dhoni always has his way when it came to selecting certain players saying, “Captain and coach don’t even have a vote in selection and its wrong to say that Dhoni decides who to select and who to drop. The selectors are most important in the selection meetings and they take decisions keeping all points of view in mind”.
Srikkanth said, that the preparations for the 2015 World cup will start 12-18 months before the tournament and not now saying “Before the 2011 World cup, we sent new players to Zimbabwe in 2010 and then tried new players against NZ. Having been a part of the World cup winning team in 1983, I knew how to pick a winning combination.
Commenting on the club vs country debate, Srikkanth said that players hiding their IPL injuries to play for India will be ultimate losers. He said, “they can cheat once or twice”. Press Release
