Rohan Gavaskar

Calcutta: Despite an indirect show of no-confidence by the Team India thinktank, the national selectors have decided on Rohan Gavaskar being Sachin Tendulkar’s replacement in the XIV for the September 10-25 Champions Trophy.

Of course, the thinktank didn’t specifically say that Rohan shouldn’t be the one. Equally, he wasn’t specifically asked for, on Saturday afternoon.

In fact, the thinktank’s message to the Board (through manager Goutam Das Gupta) only spoke of picking a “replacement”.

According to The Telegraph’s sources, the general belief was that standby Dinesh Mongia (who has been excelling for Lancashire) would earn a recall after 17 months.

However, East’s representative on the five-man selection committee, Pranab Roy, apparently quickly got into the act to ensure Rohan remained with Team India.

Sachin, who has been troubled by a tennis elbow from before the tri-series in Holland, isn’t going to be fit in the next fortnight as well.

Pranab, one learns, contacted some colleagues and emphasised Rohan alone must not be made a scapegoat for a collective failure — both in Holland and, thus far, in the NatWest Challenge — and that a fair chance needed to be given.

Obviously, his colleagues went along with that argument.

[Significantly, according to an agency report from Mumbai, the Board was able to get the views of all selectors except North’s Kirti Azad, before announcing that Rohan — the XVth player for the tri-series and the NatWest — will stay on.]

Bottomline, then, is that Rohan should be thankful to Pranab.

Meanwhile, the Board has set the ball rolling for getting the International Cricket Council’s approval on the replacement. Among other things, a doctor’s certificate (listing Sachin’s ailment) has been forwarded.