The former New Zealand captain, who held the post for almost five years until April 2005, has called for a professional set-up in his forthcoming book "John Wright's Indian Summers". India's five-member selection panel represents different zones and they have been criticised in the past for trying to push players from their respective regions under pressure to keep their post.

The coach and captain participate in selection meetings but have no vote.

"My peeve with the selection process is that I have never liked the system," Wright said in an interview aired on the Times Now channel late on Sunday.

"I have worked with some good people but I felt the way the system is operated is very tough on the selectors."

Wright also discussed his relationship with former skipper Saurav Ganguly, with whom he formed a successful combination after linking up in October 2000 when India was mired in a match-fixing scandal.

However, India's first foreign coach blamed Ganguly for the inclusion of batting legend Sunil Gavaskar as consultant on the eve of the 2004 home Test series against Australia, which the hosts lost 2-1.

At the weekend, Indian media published what they said were excerpts from the book, drawing howls of proTests from former selectors, and the cricket board was also dismissive of the comments.

"This has no relevance because all selection decisions are taken by a committee," board secretary Niranjan Shah told Reuters on Monday.

"We've found this (the selection process) is the best way to go about it because we are a big country."

He also said Wright should have resigned immediately if he had problems with Gavaskar's appointment.

"It is too late and it has no meaning," Shah said. "If you felt it hurt your ego, you should have left then."