MUMBAI: Is the Indian

board (

) getting its due when it comes to the highly-paid national selection committee, which is currently embroiled in controversy over a reported lack of communication with axed senior players like Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan?

After dropping openers Dhawan and Vijay from the two-Test series against the

, the selectors – or sources close to them – had said that they had communicated with the cricketers. The Vinod Rai-led committee too went with that statement. In turn, the cricketers – some willing to be quoted, some not – said there had been no communication with the players whatsoever.

TOI has learnt that the team management is furious over all the confusion that has prevailed over the matter. “Someone is clearly not telling the truth here. Now, either it’s the players or it’s the selectors. If they (BCCI/CoA) want to understand this better, why not just make the captain, coach, the senior cricketers and selectors sit across the table and hear them out? It'll be immediately clear who is lying and who is not,” said sources.

Despite all the stories emerging in some sections of the media, TOI can confirm there has not been any meeting yet at any point between players and selectors. Neither has the

tried to intervene or understand the matter. At no point in time was Vijay told what the future held for him. Neither was

explained why he continues to be ignored. Even Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai batsman who was hopeful of playing the two-Test series against the West Indies but eventually got left out, hasn’t heard a word from the national selection committee, say those in the know of things.

TOI has also learnt that the BCCI has not sent notices to any of these cricketer for sharing their thoughts with the media.

Vijay will head with the India ‘A’ team, under the tutelage of junior national coach Rahul Dravid, to find his way among runs once again before the tour of Australia. Nair will continue to find himself out of contention since Hanuma Vihari, the Andhra cricketer who impressed on the tour of England, retains his position at No. 6. Sharma, who has been in the reckoning to make a comeback, may have to wait a while before he can don the Test whites again. Dhawan, meanwhile, may not play Test cricket anytime soon.

At no point , say sources, have the selectors found it necessary to communicate with these individuals. “It took a Mayank Agarwal forever to find a place in the Test squad despite all the scoring he did in the domestic circuit. But all that the selector is bothered with is in conveying that cricketers are being communicated with. That’s not the case,” say sources.

Under the circumstances, the onus has been on captain Virat Kohli – who turns 29 next month – to spell out the expected roles to the players.

The board, it seems, is too busy fighting numerous legal battles to look into cricketing matters. With five senior national selectors back on board, thanks to the Supreme Court order dated Aug 20, 2018, the BCCI now spends a collective Rs 3 crore on their annual pay cheques. Last heard, the SC-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) was heard discussing if these ‘wise men’ required a raise. If all goes well, the annual spend on the senior national selection committee for the men’s team could soon get hiked to approximately Rs 4.5 cr. That’s a quarter less than a million dollars, tour allowances and other perks aside. It’s a far cry from the days when men in similar positions were expected to do the job on an honorary basis.

The BCCI can go on hiking salaries. But more importantly, it clearly needs to define the role of a national selector. Selecting 15 members out of a pool of 20 is not the challenge. It lies, instead, in ensuring that the five left out know why they don’t fit into the team management’s plans.