I wish selection committee had more international experience: Dilip Vengsarkar to India Today

Former chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar has chosen to speak out against the BCCI's decision to appoint an inexperienced selection committee for the Indian cricket tea,.

In an interview to India Today, Vengsarkar expressed his displeasure on the MSK Prasad-led selection committee having limited international experience.

"International experience is very important. The more you have played, the more you can understand players and situations. Experience at that level widens your vision as well. You can then pick a player at the right time. I don't know that about this selection committee. They don't have much experience. I wish them the best," he said. (Questions galore on DDCA's decision to sack selectors)

The BCCI for the first time departed from the tradition to have a big name as chief selector and a committee with sizeable international cricketers under their belt. MSK Prasad, the new chief selector has played six Tests and 17 one-dayers for India and has a team of selectors under him who have only played 13 Tests and 31 ODIs between them.

Wishing that there were selectors with international experience, Vengsarkar said, "You need to have an eye for talent. But you also need the courage of conviction, otherwise you will struggle. I wish there were selectors who had loads of international experience." (DDCA sacks Atul Wassan, Nikhil Chopra, Maninder Singh from selection panel)

During his stint as national selector, Vengsarkar, who went on to play 116 Tests and captained India, took the brave call of dropping Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid from India's one-day squad for a tri-series in Australia in 2007-08.

The new selection committee will need to take a bold decision on MS Dhoni's future as India's one-day skipper amidst Virat Kohli's continuing success in the Test arena. Their handling of this critical decision with the Champions Trophy due in June next year and their vision for the Indian one-day cricket in lead up to the next World Cup in 2019 would tell if Vengsarkar's criticism is justified.

Vengsarkar added that the number of selectors, either three as suggested by Lodha committee or five as has been the norm, doesn't matter much but experience does. (BCCI refuses to blink in fight with Lodha panel, names five-member selection committee)

"It does not matter if you have three or four or five selectors. But I suppose more the merrier; one can watch more cricket. If you have less selectors, having talent spotters to assist them is also an option," he concluded.