I have always had very strong views about the unwritten quota system prevalent in the Indian cricket team selection process. Now I read this very interesting article by Anand Vasu (Assistant Editor, Cricinfo) and I am literally fuming :
Vasu gives examples of players like Badani, Dinesh Mongia, Amit Bhandari, Romesh Powar etc who were selected/dumped without being given a fair run(for reasons mostly attributed to the Quota System). Powar in particular had a fairly good Pakistan tour (from my standpoint) but curiously never got an opportunity after that (probably because West Zone quota was already filled). The quota system has led to some players like Chetan Sharma, Chandrakant Pandit etc in the past and more recently Rohan Gavaskar playing for Eastern Zone to improve their chances of making it to the Indian team…this is ridiculous !!
I dont care if all regions are represented in the Indian cricket team. My opinion is that the selectors should just choose the best available players in the country even if they all happen to come from Mumbai.
This particular piece from the article is esp noteworthy :
*...it's not merely about the men who do the selecting - the system encourages the very worst of regionalism and zonal quotas. To be appointed selector, you must be nominated by your zone, and get a term of one year. At the end of that year, you can be nominated again, but this is in the hands of the zone that put you forward in the first place. This means you are under pressure all the while to get as many players from your zone selected. *
He makes a good point and I always wondered what happened to Ramesh Powers.
And damn do I love that name. I suspect he ripped it of that old Simsons episode where Homer calls himself Max Powers