Mumbai: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the BCCI selection panel headed by MSK Prasad over reappointing Virat Kohli as skipper for the team’s tour of West Indies.

Gavaskar, in his column in mid-day newspaper on Monday (July 29), termed the selectors as “lame ducks” and questioned their stature.

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“That they selected the team for West Indies without first having a meeting to select the captain brings up the question of whether Virat Kohli is the captain of the team at his or the selection committee's pleasure. To the best of our knowledge his (Kohli’s) appointment was till the World Cup. After that, it was incumbent on the selectors to meet even if it was for five minutes for his reappointment,” Gavaskar wrote.

“Speaking of lame ducks, the Indian selection committee appears to be one. After the reappointment, he (captain) gets invited to the meeting for his views on the selecting the players for the team. By bypassing the procedure, the message that goes out is that while the players like Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik get dropped after below expectations performance, the captain continues despite much below par expectations where the team did not even reach the finals,” he added.

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Gavaskar, who is now a TV commentator, said there would be a new set of selectors soon and hoped they were not “bullied” by the players.

“This is probably one of the last selections for this committee as a new one will get appointed soon. Hopefully that will have players of stature who will not get bullied and be able to tell the team management that their job is to play with the team chosen by the selectors,” he wrote.

India play three T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests against West Indies from August 3 to September 3. This will be India’s first tour after the ICC World Cup 2019 where the team lost to New Zealand in the semi-final.