Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) had called three players for the last match of U-23 One-day tourney while team management astonishingly included none of them in the playing XI.
The team lost the match by big margin of 95 runs and hence finished the tournament with 3 wins out of the 8 matches. Pertinently, the team had no chances to qualify for the next round even before taking field in the last match against Vidarbha.
Since the board had called three players specifically for this match, team management by keeping them out of playing XI, has given rise to several questions. The people have marked it ‘extremely disgusting’ and asked the management whether these players were brought for a ‘picnic’ or cricket tour.
“I’m absolutely out of words. If management wasn’t in need of players, why does JKCA called these three? Were they brought for a picnic or cricket tour? It’s extremely disgusting.” A former official said.
The tournament was being played at Jaipur and players had to take a couple of flights to reach the venue, means board spent at least 20-25 thousands per player for ‘nothing’,
“It’s understood that JKCA would have spent a lot of money in bringing these players in the team and now they have to board them back as well. Isn’t it complete waste of money?” He questioned.
The team management, coach and captain in particular, seems to be the people to blame according to a former player,
“Obviously it’s captain and coach who decide the playing XI. They should have at least thought once that what would it mean by dropping these players after calling them for the match,” He said.