By IANS
New Delhi/Mumbai : A new crisis looms over the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), as three selectors have revolted against the board’s order against writing columns in newspapers and have threatened to quit from their posts, sources said.
The board had sought an explanation from chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar over his writing columns in newspapers. Among the publications using Vengsarkar’s columns is Sakal, a Marathi newspaper owned by a family member of the cricket board president Sharad Pawar.
According to NDTV, Vengsarkar in his explanation to the board is believed to have said writing was his “livelihood”.
When the board first asked Vengsarkar to stop his columns, he is said to have told them he was writing it long before he became a selector. The board has also stopped Vengsarkar from speaking to the media on selection matters.
It is not clear which three selectors have threatened to resign. The five selectors are Vengsarkar, Venkatapathy Raju (South), Bhupinder Singh (North), Sanjay Jagdale (Central) and Ranjib Biswal (East).
The board has laid down a set of rules that prohibits selectors from writing columns or appearing as experts on TV channels.
The cricket board has also made it clear that the selectors need not travel with the team when its goes abroad. Also, selectors will not be allowed to sit with the players inside the dressing room.
Sources said board officials felt that the captain and the team management might come under pressure with the selectors’ presence. It is believed that some board members had expressed their unhappiness over the way the selectors and the team management were becoming “power centres”.
Some board members have also criticised the way selectors often accompany the team overseas and then write columns, which are often syndicated to newspapers by the very agencies which also manage the affairs of some leading players.