Former wicketkeeper-batsman MSK Prasad was named the new chairman of the Indian cricket team's selection panel on Wednesday. Prasad, 41, will lead a five-member panel, also comprising former cricketers Devang Gandhi, Jatin Paranjpe, Sarandeep Singh and Gagan Khoda. The announcement was made after the Board of Control for Cricket in India's 87th annual general meeting in Mumbai, where Ajay Shirke was also re-elected unopposed as the secretary.
This was also the first time that the board had invited applicants for the selection panel, as against the erstwhile zonal system of selection. This was one of the directives of the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha panel, which was constituted to revamp the functioning of Indian cricket. However, all the new selectors belong to five different zones, but the BCCI maintained this was just a coincidence.
However, this was not before there was some confusion regarding the chief selector's name. Before the BCCI's official announcement came, a number of journalists and news organisations had already tweeted that Prasad is the new chief selector – only, they got the first name all wrong, like this one:
#VenkateshPrasad appointed chairman of selectors, #AjayShirke as #BCCI secretaryhttps://t.co/h1qAhkADtT
— Tehelka (@Tehelka) September 21, 2016
One can see why Venkatesh Prasad would have been a good choice for the position. He has taken 196 Test wickets for India, has served as the national team's bowling coach and also heads the junior selection panel. However, as it turned out, the Indian media had jumped the gun on this one, and Twitter was not going to spare them.
Almost all major news organizations reported Venkatesh Prasad as new chairman of @BCCI sel committee, though it turns out to be MSK Prasad
— Tawqeer Hussain (@tawqeerhussain) September 21, 2016
When same surname confused everyone. BTW its MSK not Venkatesh. This is like - Indian Media c Prasad b Prasad 0 (1). pic.twitter.com/x7lfqnbDyU
— Sandipan Banerjee (@im_sandipan) September 21, 2016
Right now there is confusion between MSK and Venkatesh Prasad. This is the worst "Teja mai hoon, mark idhar hai" parody ever
— Rohan (@mojorojo) September 21, 2016
Overzealous reportage: gave us 2 chairmen of selectors with the same last name in a span of 15 mins! @jamie_alterTOI @cricketwallah #prasad
— Gautam Bhimani (@gbhimani) September 21, 2016
While most news organisations went ahead and deleted their erroneous tweets before putting out the name of the correct Prasad, some like ScoopWhoop admitted their mistake:
Correction: Seems there is some confusion over which Prasad has been named chief selector. @PTI_News reports its MSK Prasad, former 'keeper. https://t.co/8oraTSAjpi
— ScoopWhoop News (@scoopwhoopnews) September 21, 2016
Finally, the BCCI made it official. Venkatesh Prasad had been retained as the chairman of the junior selection committee.
The All-India Senior Selection Committee (Men & Women) is as following - pic.twitter.com/6BtaBENyha
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 21, 2016
The tweeting did not stop there, as the next question on everyone's mind was: MSK who?
A quick Google and ESPNcricinfo stats search later, it came to be known that MSK Prasad had played six Tests and 17 One-Day Internationals for India.
MSK Prasad - The guy who has a Batting Average of 11.77 in Tests and 14.55 in ODIs to head India's selection panel. #IronyCommittedSuicide
— Nabeel Rizvi (@nabeel__rizvi) September 21, 2016
In fact, two of the selection panel members had not played a single Test match – again completely in defiance of the Justice Lodha committee, which wanted only former Test cricketers on the panel.
Some Twitter users were not amused:
Devang Gandhi played 4 test matches.
— ओमर अब्दुल्लाह (@abdullah_0mar) September 21, 2016
Sarandeep Singh played 3 test matches.
Khoda & Paranjpe never.
MSK Prasad played 6 test matches.
No offence to new selection panel but MSK Prasad, Khoda, Debang, Sarandeep, Jatin Pranjape have a combined experience of 13 Tests, 31 ODIs
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) September 21, 2016
Others decided to have a laugh:
@ESPNcricinfo Sadagopan ramesh and nilesh. Kulkarni.. other universal talent ignored! @BCCI @SirJadejaaaa
— Toddy (@toddy_9999) September 21, 2016
BCCI is rewarding forgotten 90s cricketers except fast bowlers. Johnson, Ganesh, Kuruvilla et al don't get anything.
— cricBC (@cricBC) September 21, 2016
India's new cricket selectors
— Srini Mama (@SriniMama16) September 21, 2016
MSK Prasad (Chairman)
Devang Gandhi
Jatin Paranjpe
Sarandeep Singh
Gagan Khoda
All 20 questions material!😂😂
MSK Prasad is chief of selectors at BCCI? Is this for real? Frankly tell how many of you actually remembered him?
— Debarati Majumder (@debarati_m) September 21, 2016
However, there were some, like this guy, who asked MSK Prasad and his team to be given a chance:
@abdullah_0mar point is HarshaBhogle never played international cricket but still do commentary better than Rameez and Sanjay.
— A SHEEP AMONG SHEEP (@badri_j) September 21, 2016