As the hunt continues for the scapegoats for Delhi’s poor campaign so far in the ongoing Ranji Trophy championship, coach Abhay Sharma, selectors Gagan Khoda, Mayank Sidana and Anil Bharadwaj appear to be the soft targets.
After host Saurashtra crushed Delhi by 214 runs with more than a day to spare on Thursday, the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) appears set to make some changes before the next two home games. It is understood that the selectors could well be on their way out. Abhay could survive the axe.
DDCA president Rohan Jaitley took a serious view of the developments, the selectors having differences and one of them walking out of a meeting. He recommended removal of the selectors and the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) supported “disbanding the selection committee”.
Continuing with the pattern of nepotism, seeped deep into the chequered history of mismanagement in the DDCA, the interference of the elected officials in selection matters is seen as the bane of all troubles. Strangely, neither the selectors nor the coach have any contractual obligation towards the DDCA.
Though the selectors received praise for keeping non-performers like former captains Pradeep Sangwan and Nitish Rana out of the team, they were not even consulted when two ‘net bowlers’ were picked to travel with the Delhi team to Rajkot.
Insiders reveal that the CAC was guilty of overstepping the brief of being observers in the selection committee meetings. It is learnt that Khoda stood firm against the repeated interference from the DDCA officials.
Former Test all-rounder Kirti Azad stood by the selection committee. “Why do you blame the selectors? When the selectors are given barely few days to select the team, what can they do? We need to sympathise with the selectors rather than hold them as scapegoats,” he said.
The role of the selection committee is likely to be performed by the CAC.
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