Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Sanjay Patel on Tuesday clarified that the decision to postpone the selection of the team for next month’s Test series in Australia was because the selectors wanted to have a look at more players in the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka and not because of the Justice Mudgal report into the betting and spot-fixing episode in the Indian Premier League.
"The selection committee’s meeting has nothing to do with the Mudgal Committee report and we haven't been restrained by the court in that regard," said Patel, in Mumbai.
"We discussed at length on these issues. Right now, only one match (against the visiting Sri Lankans) is over and we were thinking of involving the other seniors who are out, or some of the juniors who are out. But, then, we came to the conscious decision to wait for another two ODIs, because for three games the team is already there and this particular injury (to Varun Aaron) required a replacement which we have decided.
"Who else can be tried? What is the performance of the team in the three ODIs? Like, Rohit (Sharma) is sitting out... he is fit. All these things will be considered," he added.
Interestingly, the national selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, met in Mumbai but did not select the team for the four-Test series Down Under. Only Stuart Binny was named as replacement for injured pacer Varun Aaron for the second and third ODIs against Sri Lanka.
Patel explained that the selectors discussed the team combination for the Australia series as well as the players' contracts.
"Three hours we were discussing at length every damn thing. What can be the combination for Australia, and some of the discussion with the chairman of selectors regarding our contracts also. We also discussed about the timeline of the entire programme because everything is in line," he said.
He said the squad could be named on November 9 or 10, as it is scheduled to leave for Australia only on November 21.
"We have time. There is still a fortnight to go for the team's departure. We have enough logistics support and, if not, we will manage. We have decided that only the Test team will be picked at some point, either 9th (November) or 10th, after the Hyderabad game.
"We will also have to see if there needs to be any change for the remaining ODIs (against Sri Lanka)."
