National selectors biased against Mumbai players, says Sunil Gavaskar

Once, there was no dearth of ‘kar’s in the Indian cricket team which symbolised the dominance Mumbai had on the national cricket scene. But now, things seem to have changed as former India captain Sunil Gavaskar – one of those achiever ‘kar’s from Mumbai, have accused the national selectors of depriving players of Mumbai the privilege to represent India on the national stage.

The iconic opener recently brought forth the example of Siddesh Lad who is yet to get a call-up for India ‘A’ despite performing consistently well in the domestic circuit. Lad has averaged over 43 with six tons in 44 first-class games for Mumbai and played a key role in helping the team win their latest and 41st title in Ranji Trophy in 2015-16.

Gavaskar even compared 26-year-old Lad’s situation with Mumbai’s domestic giant Amol Muzumdar who despite scoring tons of runs in first-class cricket, could never make it to the Indian team.

“There’s another Mumbai lad who invariably scores when his team is in trouble, and that is Siddhesh Lad, but despite his consistency he never finds himself even in the ‘A’ teams as the bias against Mumbai players is so deep- set,” the 69-year-old wrote in a column for Mid-Day.

“So, the one tour and one or two caps players from other states keep getting picked. Let’s hope that he (Siddhesh) doesn’t suffer the same fate as Amol Muzumdar who scored a mountain of runs in first-class cricket but never got the India cap. It’s not the individual, but Indian cricket that suffered with such biased and myopic decisions,” the former cricketer’s sharp pen wrote.

Gavaskar questions sending India ‘A’ to NZ when Ranji Trophy is on

Gavaskar also expressed his unhappiness with the BCCI’s decision to send the India ‘A’ team to New Zealand at a time when the Ranji Trophy is being played. According to him, such a step only devalues the national competition.

He said with 35 top players out of the country for national duty in Australia as well as for playing for India ‘A’, Ranji Trophy’s appeal has got lessened. “This is once again an indication of the misconception that the India team is Indian cricket continues,” he said.

Gavaskar took the opportunity to praise Mumbai’s 25-year-old all-rounder Shivam Dubey who scored a hundred and fifty and also took four wickets in Mumbai’s last Ranji game against Gujarat at home.

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