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'We think Azhar's experience will be good for the team"

At a chaotic press meet at the Brabourne Stadium on February 20, Chandu Borde, chairman of the national selectors, announced the team to take on South Africa in the first Test at the Wankhede Stadium beginning February 24. Excerpts:

When did you learn of Sachin's decision to quit as captain?

Today. We had no choice. We requested him not to resign, we tried our best to persuade him, but he has made up his mind. For this two Test series, we have appointed him captain, we didn't have to persuade him for that, it is his own decision.

On what basis was the decision to bring back Azharuddin arrived at?

We have been watching all these matches, in domestic matches Azhar has been performing extremely well, so we thought of making the batting lineup stronger and that is how we have selected him. We think his experience will be useful for the team.

But you have been saying that you are looking to build a young team -- doesn't the decision to bring back Azhar contradict that?

It is not a question of contradicting ourselves, we want to see that, we want to build a young team but unfortunately our team didn’t do that well in the middle order. So we thought of bringing an experienced person back in the side and that’s how Azhar’s inclusion has taken place.

Batsmen like Kanitkar were thrown into the deep end by sending them on the Australia tour. Don't you think that having done that, you needed to give him a break by giving him a chance on the slower tracks here as well?

Kanitkar's name was discussed quite a lot. However, we couldn't fit him into the side.

Nikhil Chopra was not played in the Board President's game. If he was being considered for the national team, shouldn't he have been playing in this game?

After due consideration we selected him because he is a bowler who can tie down one end and that’s why we gave him the preference. We thought that we require one good off spinner who can keep one end tied down and Kumble will be the strike bowler at the other end.

Why was Kapil Dev not a part of the selection committee meeting?

I don’t know because this happened between the Board officials and Kapil Dev. I have no idea about it. It is nothing to do with me. Kapil didn't attend the meeting, but Tendulkar was there. Kapil has not contacted me and I have nothing to do with his not coming here. I don’t know his opinion.

Did Tendulkar have any suggestions to make? Like about Azhar for instance?

There was nothing from Tendulkar about Azhar.

Who is the vice captain?

We didn't name anyone because this is a home series.

Why was Venkatesh Prasad dropped?

We did discuss Prasad, but we thought it was important to give youngsters like Kumaran a break.

In the last selection meeting you had said that Mohammad Kaif is a good one day player, now you have picked him for Tests?

I didn’t say that he is a one-day player, I said that he is a promising player.

Why did Agarkar not played in the BP XI game, if you were considering him for the Test team?

We know what Agarkar can do, we did not select him because we wanted to see some other players in action.