Rajkot: With keeping Sourav Ganguly out topping the senior national selectors’ agenda, they forgot a Board of Control for Cricket in India guideline ? that anybody coming off an injury has to prove his fitness in a domestic match ? when picking rookie Vikram Rajvir (not Raj Veer) Singh for the last two ODIs against Sri Lanka.

The strapping Punjab speedster replaced allrounder Jai Prakash Yadav after the fifth ODI, in Motera, and arrived on Monday. On Tuesday morning, the day before the sixth ODI, Team India physio John Gloster put him through a test and recommended that he stay off cricket for a couple of weeks.

Yadav, of course, has made the quickest comeback of all time: Now, he has been named Singh’s replacement!

Ironically, Singh (who idolises Waqar Younis) suffered an injury on his left leg in the very match that Sourav proved his fitness and form ? last month’s Duleep Trophy face-off here between East and North.

That match, incidentally, was watched by two of the five selectors ? Yashpal Sharma and Gopal Sharma. Yashpal is North’s representative on the committee and should have monitored the 21-year-old’s recovery. Chief selector Kiran More too.

Singh wasn’t considered for North’s next match, versus the Zimbabwe President’s XI, as he was anyway down with “viral fever.”

“I didn’t realise my recovery isn’t complete... It’s unfortunate that my first call-up has ended this way, but I’m not shattered... I’m looking beyond the next two ODIs... Looking at the future... I’ve got to wait for a fortnight,” Singh told The Telegraph at the Imperial Palace hotel.

The Singh-development was conveyed to the Media by team spokesman Wng Cdr M. Baladitya. According to him, the selectors “weren’t aware of the extent” of Singh’s injury when they deliberated in Motera.

Among other things, that conveys a huge lack of communication and a lack of honesty on the part of many ? including the Punjab Cricket Association, Singh’s home body. Surely, somebody must have known the extent of his injury.

Explanations are bound to be offered, but the selectors have invited egg on their faces.