NEW DELHI, SEPT 5: Even by the exalted standards set by Indian cricket administrators in goofing up on simple things, the story of the chairman of the selection committee announcing changes in the team for Toronto without the knowledge of other selectors should rank as the most bizarre.The two vacancies in the Indian team for Toronto due to injuries to Sachin Tendulkar and Ajay Jadeja have been filled by Ajit Wadekar by inducting players selected for the India A side to play in Las Vegas against Australia next month - Jacob Martin and Amit Bhandari.And, now comes an even greater shocker. One of the replacements in the India A side is a player who last year was dropped even from his state side - Mithun Minhas (Delhi). Wadekar and Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jaywant Lele announced these changes in Singapore and one of the four selectors was informed of these changes and also told to convey it to others.It is a sad commentary on the way Indian cricket is being run these days thatthe selection committee, if one goes by what has happened today, has become almost redundant. Imagine the embarrassment of the selectors when they were told of the changes; they had to confess their ignorance.North Zone selector Madan Lal will have to do a lot of explaining to his people about how he selected a player for the India A side when he himself was a party to the player being dropped from the Delhi side? It is possible that Wadekar, in his hurry to name the changes, forgot the name of the Delhi medium pacer, Ashish Nehra, who was selected to play for India in a Test match against Sri Lanka last year.This left-arm bowler was also called to bowl at the nets during the four-day camp at Chennai before the team left for Sri Lanka. He would have made an ideal replacement for Bhandari in the A team as Bhandari too is a medium-fast bowler. Minhas is a batsman who can also bowl spin. Wadekar's comrades - Shiv Lal Yadav from South Zone, Anil Deshpande from Central, Ashok Malhotra from East and MadanLal from North - will need to do a lot of soul-searching and ask themselves the question: Is it worth being party to decisions to which they have not been even consulted?
