Some journalists and purists advocate that a cricketer should be given an extended appearance after his debut in International Cricket. This is because they have to be judged by their performance. I totally agree with them. I was told that this was the policy adopted by Saurav Ganguly when he was at the helm of affairs as a captain of the Indian team.  Its unfortunate that this policy is treated with scant respect when SC Ganguly is the Board President. It appears that he is mute spectator to the selectorial policies and their doings or undoings

But what’s being done by the selectors and the Board is just contrary to the captioned theory. Look at the way K Gowtham of Karnataka and Venkatesh Iyer of Madhya Pradesh are treated. The latter made debut against Sri Lanka at Colombo-RPS on 23 Jul 2021 and it was his only International. He was dumped in favour of veteran R Ashwin. When R Ashwin was not selected for the ensuing white ball cricket against West Indies, K Gowtham was an automatic choice under the theory ”Off spinner for an Off spinner”. But he has been shown the doors. K Gowtham is a mixed product of Limited Overs cricket and also First Class Cricket.

Let us not forget what Mumbai Indians had done to this cricketer from Karnataka. He warmed the bench for an entire IPL Season for Mumbai Indians which dented the confidence of this upcoming cricketer. Gowtham is not the only cricketer from Karnataka to suffer at the hands of Mumbai Indians. J Suchith of Karnataka is another cricketer who suffered the same feat. He was played just one match in a season for Mumbai Indians in IPL. The fact that these two Karnataka cricketers have moved on from the injustice meted out to them at the hands of Mumbai Indians reflects their tenacity and the talent they have/possess.

K Gowtham was picked by Chennai Super Kings in the last edition of IPL. He was elated that he got an opportunity to play under MS Dhoni. But his wish remained a dream as he did not play single game.

It is just a coincidence that these two cricketers represented Mysore Warriors in Karnataka Premier League with distinction.

S Dhawan was selected for the South African tour under the “Opening batsman for an Opening batsman” theory. But the same theory does not apply for a bowler like K Gowtham. Board and selectors have their bounden duty to explain this for the cricketing public.

VR Iyers case is also to be looked into with top priority.  Hope the selectors and the Board is hearing.

I am furnishing the career figures of K Gowtham to show that he is the mixed product of First Class Cricket {168 wickets} and Limited Overs Cricket {121 wickets} and some say that the “figures speak for cricketers”. But these words do not apply to Karnataka’s K Gowtham.