Mithali Raj’s explosive letter has opened the can of worms that has plagued the power structure in Indian cricket, questioning the involvement of powerful outsiders in the selection process of Indian cricket.
According to a recent report, a senior BCCI administrator recently intervened in the men's team selection too. A report in Times of India quoted sources close to BCCI that the official tried to appoint an interim captain in one of the Asia Cup games played in the UAE during September 2018.
As per the report, the official tried to stop MS Dhoni being made the interim captain for one match in the absence of captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan.
"In the match against Afghanistan, Rohit Sharma rested himself and the Indian team management decided to hand over the captaincy to MS Dhoni because of his seniority and also as a special gesture," said the source to TOI.
“A senior BCCI administrator, however, kept insisting that appointing MS would’ve been a regressive step and said the next senior most cricketer should lead the side. So, all this talk about outsiders not interfering is absolute nonsense. The administrator refused to give MS the captaincy which was very weird given his experience.”Source to TOI
Eventually, MS Dhoni went on to lead the side in the match becoming the third cricketer to captain his side in 200 ODIs.
The report also mentioned, how the BCCI administrator also intervened in team matters and ensured that a Grade C cricketer was handed a Grade B contract.
The unnamed cricketer still continues to be part of the national side, said the report.
“It was a kind of diktat. He (the unnamed cricketer) was picked for the series in England and failed but continues to be around. You should ask this administrator if there was any effort to exert influence, even if that meant dictating the team who their captain should be.”Source to TOI
Mithali Raj on Tuesday wrote a scathing letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) where she accused coach Ramesh Powar of 'humiliating' her and Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji of 'using her position against her'. This after she was benched for India’s semi-final match against England in ICC Women’s World Twenty20 last week.
(With inputs from TOI)
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