Former India coach Ravi Shastri believes that both the coach and the captain should have a say in the national team selection.

The India captain sits in the selection committee meeting to give his inputs but the decision-making powers rest with the five-member selection panel while the coach doesn’t have a seat at the table.

“I think it is extremely important that the captain and the coach should have a say in team selection. I think, going forward, both should officially have a say. Especially if the coach is experienced enough, like I was and now how Rahul (Dravid) is,” Shastri told Star Sports.

The head coach is part of the selection panel in Australia and England.

According to Shastri, himself a former Mumbai captain, the skipper must understand what is going on in the minds of the selectors. “It should happen in a meeting — not on the phone or outside — where the captain is there, so that he gets to see the mindsets of the selectors. What happens in the meeting when the convener is there, all the big boys are there — he should be in that meeting,” added the 59-year-old.

Shastri had recently been vocal about his dissatisfaction with the selection of Team India for the 2019 ODI World Cup, insisting that he wasn’t happy with the selection of three wicketkeepers in the squad. India participated with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant was drafted into the squad mid-way.