NEW DELHI, FEB 19: The worst for Indian cricket is still to come. Sunday's selection committeemeeting to pick the team for the first Test against the South Africans is,in all probability, going to be mired in confusion, subterfuge and afarcical drama. One in which Kapil Dev may be `forced' to quit due to thehumiliation of being told not to attend the meeting, but only `brief theselectors' before the actual selection process takes place. Though Kapil chose to go incognito in the Capital today, and refused totake any phone calls, when he was traced after much effort, he only had atwo-word answer for the question _ Would he go to Mumbai to `brief' theselectors: "No comment". As the news filtered in from Mumbai that Kapil had been told by the Boardto brief the selectors and not be part of the selection, the importantquestion which arises is: Will Kapil take this humiliation? Knowing the man,it is unlikely that he will go to Mumbai and do as briefed.Though the Board constitution does not empower the coach with a vote in theselection and neither is it mandatory for him to attend. Yet, going by pastconvention, the coach has always been part and parcel of picking the team.The same rules apply to the captain as well, though it is believed thatSachin Tendulkar has been spared this ignominy and has been `invited' tojoin the selectors. So, not for the first time, even before the Indians face a strong rivalteam like the South Africans, the Indian Board is back at playing a cloakand dagger game. But, what is likely to raise public ire this time, is thatthe man they have chosen to humiliate, happens to be one of the `greatest'and most popular sportsmen in the country. There may have been `lapses' onhis part, but to have appointed him the coach with "powers to do what hedeems right for the game" and then not even ask him to attend the selectioncommittee meeting smacks of nothing else but vendetta. The same thing which he and Sachin Tendulkar have been accused of in keepingMohammed Azharuddin out.It is no secret that there is no love lost between the current and theformer captain, and, if Azharuddin gets back into the team on Sunday, onecould have suggested even the possibility of Tendulkar withdrawing ascaptain or his rallying around Kapil and forcing the Board to change itsmind. This scenario is very remote, knowing Tendulkar's dislike for gettingembroiled in any controversy. This is all conjecture and knowing the way the Board functions, a change ofmind overnight, a bit of give and take, and a facade of unity may yet bepresented on Sunday. It is going to be a long night for the Board, Kapil and Indian cricket. Butno one is going emerge a winner. It is a lose-all situation, whichever wayyou look at it.
