Former India cricketer Yograj Singh has lashed out at the BCCI selectors of the early 2010s, accusing them of mismanaging the careers of several senior players in the aftermath of India’s 2011 World Cup triumph. Speaking in a recent interview with InsideSport, Yograj claimed that as many as seven prominent players were “pushed into the gutter” following India’s disastrous overseas Test tours in England and Australia in 2011–12. “You destroyed these boys for no reason,” he said, naming key figures from the World Cup-winning squad who were sidelined: Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Kaif, VVS Laxman, and Rahul Dravid. While Dravid and Laxman retired from Test cricket soon after, the rest were gradually phased out across formats and were not part of India’s 2015 World Cup plans. Yograj also recalled the turmoil surrounding MS Dhoni’s captaincy during this period. According to him, the selection committee, including former cricketer Mohinder Amarnath, had agreed to remove Dhoni as skipper following India’s 0-4 whitewash in Australia. However, the decision was allegedly blocked by then BCCI President N. Srinivasan.
Amarnath, in a 2012 interview with CNN-IBN, had confirmed that the selectors were not allowed to act independently and expressed frustration over not being given a free hand to make decisions in the best interest of Indian cricket. Despite the internal pressure, Dhoni remained captain in Tests until the end of 2014 and continued to lead India in limited-overs cricket until January 2017, after which Virat Kohli took over.
