Srikkanth owns up Indian selection fault

New Delhi: The Chairman of India's selection committee Krishnamachari Srikkanth on Wednesday accepted the blame for the innings defeat to South Africa on Tuesday.

Speaking to CNN-IBN, Srikkanth said Rohit Sharma's injury on the morning of the Test aggravated the situation which has been blown out of proportion.

CNN-IBN: Before we talk to you about what went wrong, the world's No.1 team has been routed in four days by an innings defeat at home. Your reactions.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth: Having played a bit of cricket in the past, if fast bowlers can move the ball at that pace and bowl with that kind of accuracy, it's definitely going to be difficult. So you have to give credit to the South Africans more than blaming anybody else.

CNN-IBN: There has been a lot of criticism of your selection - two fast bowlers were on the bench even as India missed an extra batsman - and a reserve wicket-keeper had to be drafted in as a batsman. Did you miss a trick there by not selecting an extra batsman?

Krishnamachari Srikkanth: I don't think the selection matter was a particular issue, but unfortunately that is the problem. When the team wins it's fine but when the team loses, generally the selectors get bashed. So I'm willing to take the blame and own up the responsibility and I am not shying away from it.

But the point is, unfortunately, whatever happened on the morning of the Test match was absolutely unfortunate and freakish. That's what they have in this contract called 'Forced Majeure Situations'. Imagine if a player is unfit just 15 minutes and that too a standby player - Rohit Sharma wasn't even in the original 15 - just before the toss, I don't think anybody can be blamed for it.

We have also learnt a lesson. Firstly, I own up to the responsibility as chairman of the selection committee and say we should not select any player who is not 100 per cent fit. But you have to understand why it all happened. It's easy to say in hindsight that you should have done this or that. Just imagine a situation where you don't have Rahul Dravid for the Test match.

Everybody knew Laxman was not fully fit but we were all hoping that at some point he might become fit just before the game, so that in the absence of Dravid, Laxman is an equally good player of fast bowling.

CNN-IBN: So if Rohit Sharma hadn't got injured on the eve of the Test, then it wouldn't have boiled up into such an issue.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth: Definitely. The whole thing would not have blown up if Rohit Sharma had played the game. No one would have raised any questions. Irrespective of how many runs he would have scored, nobody would have questioned. They all feel that Wriddhiman Saha is not a genuine batsman but a wicketkeeper who can bat. But in all fairness, Saha proved that he can bat pretty decently.

CNN-IBN: If that is the case, then why is Wriddhiman Saha being made the scapegoat? He was drafted in as a reserve keeper, pushed in as an extra batsman, and then dropped for the second test.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth: I don't want to comment on that. It is up to you to say what the whole media perceives. But as a chairman, I would like to underline and emphasise this point that I am willing to own up to the responsibility. We have lost the Test match, but I believe it is not due to one selection. The only thing is that it is a lesson learnt. From now onwards, we will never select a player who is not 100 per cent fit.

Secondly, it is a team game, you cannot blame any individual for losing a game. We have to accept the fact that South Africa played very well. Let's face it that they played much better cricket. You can blame the selection committee. We have to accept the defeat gracefully and move on.

CNN-IBN: Your former opening partner Sunil Gavaskar said on CNN-IBN that the selectors missed a trick by not picking an extra batsman. Would you admit you made a mistake?

Krishnamachari Srikkanth: You must understand why Wriddhiman Saha was selected. Some people are questioning us on why there were two medium pacers in Indian conditions and not an extra batsman in the squad. You can talk about everything in hindsight. Has any incident happened like this where on the morning of the Test a standby player also gets injured? What are we supposed to do?

But we take the blame. Probably some of them have the right to say. Generally we have an opener, a middle order batsman, a spinner and a seamer in the reserves. But in this Test match alone we thought we would encourage two more fast bowlers. But to our bad luck, you had one batsman walking out. I'm willing to own up. You can fire me and say the selection was bad. We accept it.

CNN-IBN: Looking ahead to the Kolkata Test, you have made three changes to the team. Is this team good enough to win the Test and level the series?

Krishnamachari Srikkanth: Laxman is going to be back in the Kolkata Test match. He has said he is 100 per cent fit. The capability of Laxman will bolster the Indian batting. But we will have to bat well and bowl well. I'm sure our team will fight back, it has the capability to fight back.

We have done so well in the last one and half years. This is our first Test loss in the last 18 months. Winning and losing is part of cricket, we must accept that. I'm sure we will fight back and do well in Kolkata.