BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia explains why VVS Laxman attended the selection meeting

BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia (ANI Photo) NEW DELHI: BCCI Center of Excellence (CoE) chief VVS Laxman will regularly attend selection meetings as the Indian cricket board aims to avoid any misunderstanding between selectors, team management and the Bengaluru facility. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia explained that the decision was taken at a review meeting in Mumbai and will be the norm going forward.“The VVS was in the meeting to ensure that there was no misunderstanding between the selectors and the Council of Europe,” Saikia told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive chat.“He is the head of cricket in BCCI. He has all the information about player injuries, so to avoid any misunderstanding, Laxman should attend the selection meetings in future. It was decided after the review meeting in Mumbai,” he further added.Saikia admitted that constant player injuries were a serious problem for the BCCI. Asked if the move was meant to make the selection process more transparent, Saikia said, “It’s not about transparency. It’s about ensuring that the selectors get complete and accurate information so that they can make the right decisions,” he said.Recently, after the third ODI against West Indies, India captain Shubman Gill admitted that the absence of players due to many factors was frustrating. He said the team does not have much time to experiment before the 2027 World Cup and wants to field a combination that is likely to play in the tournament when the next series comes around.“I would say it was unlucky, you know, with the injuries and with the schedule, with the other games around. It was a bit unfortunate that we weren’t able to field the bowling line-up that we would have liked,” he told reporters.