Vadodara: Former India wicket-keeper and chief selector Kiran More, now 47, spoke to The Telegraph on Saturday.

The following are excerpts

Q You served as our wicket-keeper for almost a decade, yet you’re best remembered as a controversial chief selector...

A Whatever my role, I tried to put my best foot forward... I remember feeling totally lost in my first season as selector (2002-03)... It did take me time to settle down and I must say I had good colleagues... My conscience is clear, for whatever I did was in the best interests of Indian cricket... It’s a team game where the selectors, too, are concerned... The idea should be to pick 10 new faces in a year, at different levels for India, and hope that at least four go on to deliver. That would be healthy.

So, nothing personal came into it, not even when Sourav Ganguly got removed as the India captain and from the ODI team itself (in October 2005)?

No, my decisions were never biased... Four years have passed, but people still want to know what happened during that Sourav episode... Sourav’s stature as a cricketer made it such a big issue.

Greg Chappell and you, therefore, didn’t gang up against Sourav?

Why would we have done so? Sourav got dropped because, at that point in time, he wasn’t looking confident as a batsman... Also, Rahul Dravid had already been the vice-captain for a number of years and was probably in the form of his life... We felt the time was right for a change... In fact, when Sourav did make a full-fledged comeback, 13-14 months later, he returned a better cricketer.

Sourav’s full-fledged comeback was under the next selection committee, headed by Dilip Vengsarkar. Had your innings not ended, would you have brought him back?

Look, if somebody performs, he can’t be ignored... Sometimes tough decisions have to be taken and we did take one in October 2005... I continue to have the highest regard for Sourav... He proved us wrong and, yes, it’s possible that we got it wrong on Sourav... Having said that, neither Chappell nor the selectors (including East’s Pranab Roy) had a motive... You’ve got to remember that all teams are approved by the Board president.

Ranbir Singh Mahendra was the president then. Did he raise questions?

He did, I think... I must have given our point of view.

Why didn’t you take Sourav into confidence before removing him?

You’ve made a point... Could’ve been done, but nobody would like being told that he’d be dropped... Something like that was done in one or two cases, earlier, and got leaked to the media.

Did you expect Sourav to make an impact-making comeback, in South Africa?

Class is permanent, isn’t it? Plus, Sourav would always be a fighter, have spunk... Had character... I wasn’t at all surprised and I genuinely wanted him to do well. India, after all, would benefit... At the end of the day, performance matters, not somebody’s closeness or otherwise to somebody. I didn’t have a godfather... Neither the Souravs.

Today, how do you look back on Chappell’s 23 months as the India coach?

Chappell had a vision and, back in 2005, he’d been talking of the 2011 World Cup... Both he and I wanted to pick players who would serve India for 10 years, not one or two series only... Chappell wanted to do a lot, but...Don’t forget that a lot of today’s cricketers made their debut during his time... Suresh Raina, for example...

Did Chappell, despite not having a vote, try and dominate selection meetings?

No.

How was Sourav during those meetings?

Strong in his views, which was fine... He handled off the field situations well, too.

What if you bump into Sourav?

I wouldn’t expect any unpleasantness... I didn’t have an agenda. In fact, I salute Sourav for his achievements... Over 100 Tests and over 300 ODIs... Over 18,500 runs in international cricket... Such cricketers have to be respected.

Moving away from Sourav, do you think the India cap is, today, being handed out rather freely?

(Grins) Getting into the Indian team is certainly easier now than when I was trying to get into the XI (around the mid Eighties)... Today, anybody who does well in T20, gets to play for India...

Which isn’t quite right...

It isn’t... Weightage has to be given to the established forms of domestic cricket and to performances on tours by India A... T20 has glamour and entertainment, but not much substance... Mediocre players can play T20, but they can’t play Test cricket... They’ll get exposed in that ultimate form.

Is easy money from, say, the Indian Premier League (IPL) spoiling the players’ attitude?

Easy money from anywhere could spoil them... My view is that no IPL franchise should have formal contracts with players till they’ve played for India... Give nominal retainerships, that’s all... The aim should be to play for India, not bag IPL contracts.

What’s the No.1 challenge confronting the present team?

Improving the quality of fielding... In limited overs cricket, a brilliant catch or even a great stop on a poor ball makes a difference. A great batting side can help you win some matches, in limited overs cricket, but not very many... Our bowling, too, needs to improve.

How can the standard of domestic cricket improve?

By improving the standard of wickets and by getting the biggest names to play a lot more domestic cricket... We have the stadiums and the equipment, but there’s hardly anybody qualified to use the equipment... Sadly, in India, wickets aren’t a priority, everything else is. The mindset has to change.

Aren’t you disappointed that the Deodhar Trophy got shelved this season?

Very disappointed... In my time, the Duleep and Deodhar trophies were such important tournaments and performances in both or either one of them rarely went unnoticed. I sincerely hope this remains a one-off decision by the Board.

What are your thoughts on Wriddhiman Saha?

He’s good... He’s got to be consistent, though.

Among the youngsters, who have impressed you?

Virat Kohli... I see him as a future India captain... He’s different and has character... Ravindra Jadeja has the potential to be a match-winner and, so, needs to be handled well... He hasn’t been, so far... I quite like Sudeep Tyagi and I’m happy he’s in the India XV.

Sachin Tendulkar’s future...

How much more do we want from Sachin? He’s given 20 years and, from now on, everything from him should be seen as a bonus.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his debut, in 2004-05, when you were the chief selector. Your take on his career?

His graph has a phenomenal look... Only Sachin’s is better... Dhoni has that calmness about him and has quickly got better and better.

But Dhoni has changed his game...

That’s with responsibility, he can’t be so carefree now. A lot of cricketers have changed their game, but it’s not that they became lesser players. Circumstances, responsibility... A lot of factors may come into play.

You’ve been a joint-secretary of the Baroda Cricket Association... Do our cricket administrators actually have a vision?

The vision is there, it’s the implementation which is faulty. There’s no point having grand plans if little will eventually be implemented. The World Cup was won by us in 1983 and, 26 years later, we’re still celebrating that victory! There are only a handful of top teams and we can’t beat them on a consistent basis... We’ve got to appreciate that the difference between domestic and international cricket is significant and, to reduce that, we need to make domestic cricket stronger... I’ve never blamed the Board alone, for the affiliated associations are also to blame. Indeed, I’d recommend that the Board stop the grants if associations fail to produce India cricketers.

In your view, to what extent is Test cricket threatened by T20?

Look, I’ll limit myself to the Indian context... Some cities have a culture for Test cricket, many don’t... I’d schedule Tests in Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi only... As for the other centres, be it Mohali or Nagpur, I’d give them ODIs and T20 Internationals... Everything doesn’t work everywhere... For me, Test cricket will remain the form which makes the most demand on players... It’s the real test and definitely needs to be packaged well.

The final one: A number of the Indian Cricket League officials have returned to mainstream cricket, but you haven’t. Could your position change?

Can’t say what may happen in the future, but I’m happy working with the Zee group... There’s no cricket now, but I’m doing TV shows and a few other things.