He is deeply disappointed at the way India handed over the Test series to South Africa, he can’t get over the batting crawl that turned the final game, but chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar today raised the alarm on a far more serious issue affecting Indian cricket: unfit players making it to the final XI, especially Munaf Patel.

“I am not very happy with his fitness, to be honest. I want 100% fit players in the team. Even if he has a slight niggle, he should inform the coach, the captain or the selection committee. If players are unfit, they are letting the Indian team down. And Munaf did just that, he was not 100% fit,” Vengsarkar told The Indian Express.

India’s bowling spearhead last year, the village to West Indies hero, Munaf missed three ODIs here and the first two Tests due to a “bruised ankle” during the second one-dayer in Durban on November 22, and ended up bowling just one over yesterday during South Africa’s successful run chase to wrap the series here 2-1.

“He was saying he was 100% fit, John Gloster (the physio) was saying he was 100% fit. But you could see with the naked eye that he wasn’t. You just can’t lie like that, he was virtually limping. You could see that he was not putting 100% on his follow-through. These things shouldn’t be allowed at all,” said Vengsarkar.

“Munaf is an important member of the team, he is a top class bowler. But we could have sent him back (soon after he got injured). However, we were told he will be fit in time for the second Test match. We could not pick him in Durban because VRV Singh bowled well in the first Test match, which we won. So we said, let him be 200% fit for the last Test match. A strong message should be sent out now, that players shouldn’t hide their fitness levels,” added the former Indian captain.

... contd.