Mohinder Amarnath on Indian Selection Panel; Joins ‘Bunch of Jokers’

One could not help but refer immediately to the most famous line of the former Indian cricketer as he takes his place alongside Krishnamachari Srikkanth and others on the Indian selection panel following the BCCI Annual General Meeting decision.

Mohinder Amarnath

Mohinder Amarnath, also known as Jimmy Amarnath, was part of the World Cup winning squad of the Indian team that lifted the 1982 World Cup under Kapil Dev. In fact, he was the Man of the Match in the semi final and final. Having represented India in sixty-nine Tests and eighty-five one day internationals, Amarnath now takes up a unique position where he will have the opportunity to be part of the panel that decides India’s future composition.

The BCCI decided to retain the chairman of selectors, Srikkanth as well as Raja Venkat from the East Zone, Narenda Hirwani from the central and Surendra Bhave which meant that only Yashpal Sharma had to be replaced, bringing in Jimmy Amarnath on the panel. Amarnath though will no longer be on the IPL governing council as a result of this decision, which means that Gundappa Vishwanath will take his place. That is quite a handful of former Indian cricketers right there.

For Amarnath, who is respected in cricket circles, it is a huge opportunity to influence Indian cricket from a position that he once felt no respect for when he himself was at the receiving end of the axe. Amarnath is of course famously associated with his calling the Indian selectors ‘a bunch of jokers’ after he was axed from the team. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, it may not seem out of place if Amarnath happens to be at the receiving end of a few not so delectable comments.

After all, the Indian selectors under Srikkanth faced their first major scrutiny in the course of India’s tour of England which resulted in India returning home having earned nothing and instead lost one more place on the standings of the ICC ODI championship table as well as their no.1 Test status. The decision to include a few cricketers with dubious fitness records came a cropper, necessitating the Indian selectors to be on their toes in terming of having to replacements, not all of the choices meeting with public approval.

With the number of injuries afflicting the Indian cricket team, questions were asked about the basis on which the players were selected despite them being regular members of the squad as well as the replacement players who were either completely out of their depth or players who had not served Indian cricket or did not enjoy the support of the Indian captain.

However, apart from that disastrous India’s tour, the selectors have generally been more right than wrong on critical decisions and although they came in for flak for picking Piyush Chawla for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, India’s victory in the premier tournament, coming as it did after twenty-eight years, managed to vindicate the selectors on other decisions thereby, earning a reputation that has allowed them to retain their place on the panel with an extension.