Before Mithali Raj row, BCCI official interfered in men's team selection too: Report
Mumbai: Mithali Raj broke silence on her controversial omission from India’s semi-final defeat to England in the recently-concluded ICC Women’s World Twenty20 on Tuesday in a scathing letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), lashing out at head coach Ramesh Powar and Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji for being bias; saying “few people in power were out to destroy her.”
While the fiasco surrounding Raj has becoming a hot topic of debate in Indian cricket, it is learnt that a senior BCCI administrator recently interfered with the men's team selection too and tried to appoint an interim captain in one of the Asia Cup games played in the UAE during September 2018, which was eventually won by the Men in Blue.
"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.
"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," a close source was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
As per reports, the MSK Prasad-led selection panel also expressed displeasure over the decision to make Dhoni the captain, who became only the third cricketer to captain in 200 or more ODIs.
"The selectors are not pleased that wholesale changes were rung in for the match and both stand-in captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan sat out with MS Dhoni forced to be captain again, out of nowhere, "a BCCI source told India Today earlier.
Not only that, the BCCI administrator also intervened in team matters by ensuring that a Grade 'C' cricketer is handed a Grade 'B' contract. As per the report, the unnamed cricketer, who is backed by the administrator, continues to be part of the national side.
"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," the source added.
