Was Dhoni the reason behind postponement of selection meet yesterday?

Five selectors met to pick the team for the remaining two one-dayers against Sri Lanka, but decided to postpone it without giving any reasons in the brief media release

Confusion reigned at the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) headquarters yesterday when the five selectors met to pick the team for the remaining two one-dayers against Sri Lanka, but decided to postpone it without giving any reasons in the brief media release.

Chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil at the BCCI headquarters in the city yesterday. Pic/PTI.

It is learnt that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s availability for the two matches could not be ascertained, and as a result the team, the five wise men decided against picking the team. Dhoni was rested for the first three ODIs against Sri Lanka, who filled in immediately after the West Indies abruptly ended their India tour.

MS Dhoni

“The selectors want Dhoni to play the remaining two ODIs, but he has not yet reverted on the same, so they weren’t sure of his availability. That’s why they did not pick the team yesterday,” a source told mid-day.

It is also learnt that the selectors were set to pick the squad for the Australia Test tour too, but that plan was dropped at the last moment.

Binny replaces Aaron
Chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil left the BCCI headquarters within just half-an-hour of his arrival yesterday while the other four selectors — Saba Karim, Roger Binny, Rajinder Singh Hans and Vikram Rathour — left after a couple of hours. The only announcement that came later was the selection of all-rounder Stuart Binny in place of injured pacer Varun Aaron for the remaining two matches.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel later explained the reason for postponement. “Right now, only one match is over (against Sri Lanka) and we were thinking of involving some of the other senior players, who are out, or some of the juniors who are out, but then we came to the conclusion that we should wait for another two ODIs. We also discussed who else could be tried (like) Rohit (Sharma) is sitting out, but he is fit now, the performance of the team, etc. All these things were considered,” said Patel.

Patel also said the selectors did discuss some combinations for the Australia tour.

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