EDITORIAL: No lover of cricket can truly congratulate the Selection Committee ... on their selection of their personnel of the All-India team to be sent to Ceylon.... No wonder that many have begun to rub their eyes in bewilderment after scanning the list, which we cannot help characterising as an ill-assorted one. Can an All-India team be complete without Amir Elahi, whom Dennis Compton, the English Test cricketer, as recently as last month, ranked as one of India’s best spin bowlers — a well-deserved tribute with which another cricketer of equal repute, Joe Hardstaff, has fully ­associated himself?

But there it is. Incredible though it may seem, it is true that the ace Muslim bowler, who was such a great match-winning factor for the Muslims against the formidable Hindus in the last Bombay Pentangular has ... not been included in the team. Elahi’s present form has been uniformly deadly. His bowling at Surat, a few days ago, taking five wickets in as many balls, is a feat that will take long to be beaten. Yet some nondescripts have been given preference over him. Then there is Syed Ahmad, another tricky bowler, whom one misses on the list. ... It seems to us that the selectors have been carried away by prejudice against Muslim cricketers....

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2020