Chetan Sharma’s association with Virat Kohli raised eyebrows during his tenure as the Chairman of Selectors for the BCCI. Appointed to lead an expert panel, he assumed the role in December 2020 but faced a swift removal in November 2022 following India’s exit from the T20 Cricket World Cup.

Sharma’s second stint as the chairman of the national selection committee lasted merely around 40 days. His resignation came three days after a controversial sting operation by Zee News, where he unwittingly discussed various cricket-related matters, including the contentious removal of Virat Kohli as ODI skipper in late 2021.

Unaware that his position as chief selector was at risk during the hidden camera expose, Sharma candidly touched on topics such as Rohit Sharma’s perceived dim prospects in T20 cricket, suggesting that players like Hardik Pandya spent hours at home and insinuating that some Indian cricketers took injections to portray themselves as fully fit.

In a recent interaction with News 24, the former chairman of selectors addressed various issues in Indian cricket and clarified that his relationship with Kohli was misunderstood by the public.

In reference to Virat Kohli, Sharma expressed, “Dekhiye Virat bacche ki tarah hai (Virat is like my own son). He has played from Delhi as well. He is very dear to me and much younger than me. I am always delighted when someone is hailed as the legend of his country. I extend my best wishes to him for all his future endeavors,” remarked Sharma.

Chetan Sharma Expresses Hope for Virat Kohli to Hit a Century Upon His Return

He expressed additional optimism that Kohli would make a significant score upon his return to the Indian cricket team after the second Test. Currently absent from the team due to personal reasons, Kohli has been temporarily replaced by Rajat Patidar.

“I hope Kohli scores a century upon his return in the third Test against England. Additionally, I am optimistic that he edges closer to achieving his target of a hundred international centuries. I eagerly await that moment,” concluded Sharma.

In the meantime, India suffered a setback, losing the first Test against England by 28 runs despite securing a lead of 190 in the initial innings. The team struggled to chase down the target of 231, notably in the absence of Virat Kohli, who had informed the BCCI about his unavailability for the first two Tests due to personal reasons.

As India heads into the second Test in Vizag, the team will be dealing with the absence of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja due to injuries. This poses a significant setback for India, especially considering the prior unavailability of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami.

In response to the injury concerns, Sarfaraz Khan received his maiden call-up to the Indian team ahead of the second Test against England. Joining him are Washington Sundar and Saurabh Kumar, added to the squad as replacements for the injured KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja. Sarfaraz has been enlisted as a substitute for Rahul, while Sundar is considered a potential replacement for Jadeja.

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BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma resigned on Friday, a few days after his controversial revelations in a sting operation came to light. Sharma disclosed in a TV channel sting that the players had been taking injections to speed up their recovery from injuries and make them fit for selection.

The 57-year-old made a number of other controversial statements in the video, including the assertion that the Indian cricket team and management had a significant ego clash. Fans have reacted strongly to the selection committee chairman’s remarks about prominent national team cricketers, including captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, following the sting operation.

Sharma had also disclosed that former captain Kohli and former BCCI president Ganguly had an ego dispute. He also stated that, despite being 80% to 85% fit, many players take injections to speed up their return to competitive cricket.

The former cricketer also claimed that he and the team’s management disagreed about whether Bumrah would return from a stress fracture in time for the September T20I series against Australia.

One of his statements during the sting operation referred to the white-ball captaincy. In order to have a single white-ball leader, Chetan and his committee decided to remove Kohli from the captaincy position.

“Removing someone from captaincy is the job of selectors. We removed him from the ODI captaincy as we wanted to have one white-ball captain. This is normal procedure and even he (Kohli) knows it. After Virat announced that he was giving up the T20I captaincy, the selectors made up their minds to remove him from the ODI captaincy as well,” Sharma said in the viral video.

It is understood that Chetan notified BCCI Secretary Jay Shah of his intention to resign, and Jay Shah accepted his resignation. Prior to India’s screeching halt from the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, Chetan was fired, but he was unexpectedly reinstated shortly thereafter.

He also said that the BCCI used to give opportunities to younger players in the T20I game in order to “rest” big players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Hardik Pandya is the team’s future captain and will succeed Rohit in the long run.

He admitted that he gave chances to 15 to 20 team members, including Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh, and Deepak Hooda.

There were rumors that he might be removed from his position as chief selector shortly after Sharma’s revelations. Based on the initial inputs, it has occurred and he has carried it out himself.

India is currently playing the second test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Delhi against Australia. 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in a proactive mode in the World Cup year and has already initiated planning for the 50-over tournament to be held later this year. The January 1 review meeting laid the foundation for the road ahead and now the focus is likely to shift towards the head coach. Current coach Rahul Dravid’s contract is till the 2023 World Cup and should he not consider an extension. Has reliably learned that the Indian cricket board is looking at VVS Laxman, Head of Cricket at the NCA.

The 48-year-old, who was also in the mix when Dravid was appointed coach in November 2021. Is on top of the list and has already been on coaching assignments with the Indian team in Dravid’s absence. He was with the team for the 2022 edition of the Asia Cup when Dravid was down with COVID-19. Has also travelled for various bilateral series in the past. He had argued earlier why the regular state-fed model of selection is not enough for T20. Why need of the hour is to ditch the archaic approach to selection and take a leaf out of IPL playbook.

Also Read: Indian Cricket Team Review Meeting Ends, BCCI shortlists 20 players for 2023 ODI World Cup

If not Dravid, well VVS Laxman could be next coach for Indian side

The franchise model of selection which primarily focusses on scouting, extensive camps and simulation-based trials. There’s very little coaching which is required at the T20 level and it’s more about having a person who can align the troops in the right direction – the man-manager kind of role which Ravi Shastri played to perfection during his tenure as head coach of the Indian cricket team. Ever since taking over from Shastri, Dravid has had an indifferent run as coach of the Indian cricket team.

The next two years are packed for India men’s team and feature a potential World Test Championship final. 2023 ODI World Cup and then 2024 T20 World Cup. In a course correction effort, the issues of player availability, workload management and fitness parameters were discussed at length during the BCCI review meeting along with the roadmap to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

After Team India’s defeat in the T20 World Cup 2022, the selection committee led by Chetan Sharma was fired by the BCCI. Despite India’s progress to the semi finals, which is still being viewed as a failure due to the fact that more was expected of the team’s stars, The selection committee is the first to suffer as a result of this disappointing outing. The selection committee, which also included Harvinder Singh, Debashish Mohanty, and Sunil Joshi, was led by Chetan Sharma. 

The reports state that these four individuals will not reapply, but they have moved on. The firing was also said to have been delayed for some time. The BCCI made it abundantly clear that the current committee will not continue by inviting applications for a new group of selectors on Friday. After India’s poor performance against England in the semi-finals, the decision has been well received by Indian fans. 

However, they want captain Rohit Sharma to also leave.

If selectors were to blame, then why is Rohit not being held accountable, according to the argument. India will play three Twenty20 Internationals and three One-Day Internationals in New Zealand following the T20 World Cup. 

The same committee that appointed Hardik Pandya as captain chose the team for this tour

This is why it is impossible to assert that Rohit has been dropped. It more or less suggests that he has been rested for the series. Head Coach Rahul Dravid, who has also taken a break since the World Cup, is also being criticized by fans for being fired. 

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Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli all appeared to have requested rest, so they were also left out of the NZ series squad. Fans are dissatisfied with these breaks, which appears to have also not been well received by top BCCI officials.

The senior national selection committee led by Chetan Sharma has been fired by the BCCI. For the position of national selectors, the BCCI invited applications via Twitter.

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) invites applications for the position of National Selectors (Senior Men). Candidates who wish to apply for the said position need to fulfill the following criteria for their applications to be considered,”

said BCCI in a statement. 

BCCI also listed down the criteria for the applications. 

National Selectors (Senior Men)

1. Positions – 5
2. Should have played a minimum of

•  7 Test matches; OR
•  30 First Class matches; OR
•  10 ODI and 20 First Class matches
• Should have retired from the game at least 5 years ago

“No person who has been a member of any Cricket Committee (as defined in the rules and regulations of BCCI) for a total of 5 years shall be eligible to be a member of Men’s Selection Committee. Applications should be submitted by 1800 hrs IST on November 28, 2022,”

the statement added,

The Fallout of a Heartbreak

In the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinals, India lost to England. It was really disappointing that the group lost by 10 wickets. Even though many of the team’s players were out of shape, there were many questions about how the team was chosen after losing in the semifinals. Overall, India’s run at the T20 World Cup consisted of victories over Zimbabwe and Netherlands, close victories over Pakistan and Bangladesh, and two defeats against the big dogs, South Africa and England.

ALSO READ: NZ vs IND: Match abandoned w/o a ball bowled

In addition, numerous concerns were expressed regarding Pant’s handling, Chahal’s complete absence from the 11-man roster, the absence of part-time bowlers, the intent of the batters during Powerplay, and a great deal more. 

Under MS Dhoni’s leadership, India last won an ICC tournament in 2013. Since then, the team has been consistently defeated.

It is believed that Shikhar Dhawan has been dropped from T20 squad, putting his fans and many cricket experts in shock. Read the article to find out the full story.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan’s exclusion from Team India’s 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup has left everyone in shock. The 35-year old, who has been in great form in the IPL as well as in the recent white-ball series against Sri Lanka has been unable to find his place in the team.

Former Indian Cricketer, Farokh Engineer told Sports Tak that ‘he was disappointed with a big name like Shikhar Dhawan being excluded from the list’. “This is really disheartening as a player like Dhawan, who has so much potential and who has proved himself over the years missed the mark for the T20 World Cup squad”. “Dhawan has recently led the team against Sri Lanka in July”, Added Engineer. However, Engineer felt that the team is well-balanced and has every chance to win the T20 World Cup.

Chief selector Chetan Sharma, in the press conference stated that right now we cannot reveal everything about the discussion that went by. “Shikhar is an asset for us. He is in the loop. Right now we are focusing on other players. So those thinking that Dhawan’s T20 career is done are probably wrong.”

 India, who announced their Men in Blue for T20 World Cup 2021, can still make changes till October 10 and can replace members depending on their performance starting from September 19 at Dubai. With swaps still possible, lets await whether the odds turn in favour of Dhawan or not!