5 biggest controversies of Chetan Sharma's career as chief selector of Team India

Chetan Sharma, a former Indian cricketer and politician, represented the country in 23 Tests and 65 ODIs. He is infamously remembered for conceding a last-ball six against Javed Miandad in an India-Pakistan encounter.

The former fast bowler was first appointed as the selector of the national team way back in December 2020. During his tenure as the chief selector of the Indian men's cricket team, the Men in Blue played two T20 World Cups and the World Test Championship final.

He was sacked from the post in November 2022 after the 2022 T20 World Cup exit before being re-appointed on January 7, 2023.

On that note, let's take a look at the 5 major controversies during his tenure as the chief selector of the Indian men's cricket team.

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#1 Zee News Sting Operation

During the ongoing marquee Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series, Zee News released an interview with Chetan Sharma, which grabbed the headlines. In that, Sharma made several claims - players taking injections to be 100% match fit, Ganguly being against Kohli and not pro-Rohit, and Rohit and Virat being like 'Dharmendra and Amitabh'.

If reports are to be believed, the BCCI is expected to take action against Sharma, who is highly likely to be fired after his unprovoked comments in the media.

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#2 Virat Kohli's sacking as ODI captain

Former Indian captain Virat Kohli resigned from the T20I captaincy before the 2021 T20 World Cup and said that the tournament would be the last time he captained India in the format. However, he wanted to continue leading India in Test and ODI cricket.

However, the selector's panel under Chetan Sharma believed that they cannot have two separate white-ball captains. This led to Rohit Sharma replacing Kohli as India's captain in both the white ball formats. Kohli eventually stepped down from the Test captaincy too, after India lost a series 2-1 to South Africa.

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#3 Ravi Shastri's interview with Arnab Goswami

Ravi Shastri served as the coach of the national team for five years, during which he gave an explosive interview to Republic TV after India's exit from the T20 World Cup.

He said that the squads have been selected by the selection committee, led by Chetan Sharma and that the captain and coach have no say in it. He emphasized that the squad of 15 players is selected by the selectors, while the captain and the coach decide the playing 11.

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#4 Wriddhiman Saha being threatened by Boria Majumdar

Indian wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha last played Test cricket for India in 2021. At one point, journalist Boria Majumdar asked him to sit for an interview on his channel, something Saha did not respond to, however.

The journalist's tone then changed drastically as he started threatening the Indian cricketer and implied that an interview on his channel would increase Saha's chances of being selected.

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#5 Slammed a journalist when asked about Hardik Pandya's availability

During a press conference, a journalist made a comment saying that the selectors would pick Hardik Pandya as soon as he was fit to play. The statement got Chetan Sharma livid, who then asked the journalist to speak to Hardik directly as he did not have his mobile number.

"You are not a member of the selection committee to tell that whether he will be selected or not. The five selection committee members are there with me. Who gets selected and who does not, that we will decide, not you. But what he has to do, who will play what, let things come, you support a kid, don’t go behind him," Chetan Sharma reportedly said at the press conference.