By IANS
New Delhi/Kolkata : Indian cricket seems headed for a bigger crisis as chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar has told the cricket board that he wants to quit his post.
Even as Vengsarkar is said to be adamant on resigning, the board is trying to buy time by asking him to stay on till the team selection for the third Test against Pakistan and also for the upcoming tour to Australia.
While board secretary Niranjan Shah said he was unaware of Vengsarkar’s decision, vice-president Rajiv Shukla said: “He (Vengsarkar) wants to step down. He spoke to board president Sharad Pawar last evening and said so.”
On Saturday, Vengsarkar, former India captain, had a long discussion with the Pawar in Kolkata. The two met in a room, which had glass doors and the animated discussion was in full view of the media.
Vengsarkar had left Kolkata and both team and board sources in Kolkata refused to speak on the issue, but Shukla did speak out in Delhi.
The crisis started with the board wanting him to stop writing columns. The latest problem erupted Saturday when the venue for the meeting of the selection committee was shifted to Bangalore for Dec 5, but Vengsarkar seemed to be unaware of this change and had looked irritated.
From the tenor of some officials, including Shukla, it seems a prominent section of the board is determined to bring Vengsarkar under control.
Shukla categorically said that the board rules have to be followed.
“He is not happy about it (guidelines). But the board has had these guidelines for ages. We cannot flout the rules and regulations. Every selector is expected to stick to those guidelines. No selector has ever written any column so how can you make exception for one person,” he said.
According to Shukla, the board has asked him to wait. He said national interest should be put ahead of personal issues.
Vengsarkar is upset at being asked to stop his column, which he claims was very lucrative. What has also angered him is the allegation that a Kolkata-based company that also manages ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was syndicating his columns.
Some board officials have called it a conflict of interest and initially asked that Vengsarkar be issued a show cause notice. While Pawar managed to stop that show cause notice, Vengsarkar was told clearly that he would have to stop writing as long as he was a selector.
The board also issued guidelines for selectors, which included rules for their travel and coming into the dressing room of the team during a match. The board was miffed that the guidelines found their way into the newsrooms of newspapers and TV Channels.