Indian players under the pump

Signs are ominous for non-performing Indian cricketers as the national selectors and the coach start looking for answers to their recent series loss in South Africa.

The BCCI is extremely anxious about the team performances, losing both the Test and one-day series with key players not contributing throughout the tour.

“I am going to tell the selectors to have a deep look at the non-performing players when choosing the team. I am talking on behalf of the Board’s members who also feel in similar fashion. They have to review the players’ performance,” said the secretary of the BCCI, Niranjan Shah.

“The board is definitely concerned by the performance, but it will not interfere,”

“It is up to the selection committee to review things…but I will certainly ask them to have a re-look at the players’ performance.”

“They should not go only by the history of some players. Consistent performance is important,” he stressed.

Virender Sehwag did not have the best of tours, accumulating a mere 89 runs at an average of 14.83. Captain Rahul Dravid didn’t fair much better managing only 125 runs at 20.83.

Coach Greg Chappell raised the point that the performances would have to be analysed with players roles being questioned and the possibility that some members would be at risk of losing their places in the side.

“Looking at the tour as a whole, there are more questions than answers. Over the next week or so, when we get back to India and have a chance to digest what happened, discuss and debrief this one and look into the future, we are going to make some decisions on which direction we go and there will be a few guys under a bit of pressure, there is no doubt,” he said.

“He (Sehwag) is certainly a concern but I don’t think he is our only batting concern at the moment. We are just not getting enough consistent runs, we seem to be losing wickets in batches, which is something you try and avoid when you are playing international cricket.”