The Hindu : Sport : High points of the meeting

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Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005

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High points of the meeting

G. Viswanath

Ganguly regrets making public the conversation between him and Chappell

Mumbai: The BCCI Special Committee, which met here on Tuesday to review the performance of the Indian team in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, listened carefully to the long report e-mailed to it by Greg Chappell. It also went through Ganguly's rebuttal.

The skipper, according to a Special Committee member, became emotional when refuting the `faking injuries' charge made by Chappell, who informed the committee that whatever he has done so far was to "commit to excellence and fulfil his aim.''

The high points of the four-and-half hour discussion at the committee meeting were:

A paradigm shift in electing the national selectors, aimed at shunning regionalism and overall selection policy matters.

Showing no tolerance to indiscipline on and off the field.

Two-captain concept for Test matches and ODI.

Inculcating a high degree of professionalism, performance-based selection and not revealing dressing room discussions to the public.

Maintaining confidentiality of proceedings and decisions taken at selection committee meetings. All these will be placed before the BCCI's Working Committee for approval.

It is reliably learnt that Ganguly regretted making public the conversation between him and Chappell before the first Test in Bulawayo. In the course of the review of both the series, Dalmiya told Chappell that he should refrain from sending text messages to journalists and friends about the players.

"There was a free and frank discussion and observations were made by all the members of the Special Committee members. They were impartial and sound in their judgment,'' a senior BCCI official said. The committee included former India captains S. Venkatraghavan, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and administrators — Messrs Ranbir Singh Mahendra (president, BCCI), S.K. Nair (secretary, BCCI) and Jagmohan Dalmiya (ex-president, BCCI).

Gavaskar attended the meeting after being informed on Tuesday morning that his father Manohar had been shifted from the ICU of a private clinic in Pune. Gavaskar, the Technical Director of the ICC Rest of the World XI, is scheduled to leave for Australia on Wednesday morning for the Johnnie Walker Super Series.

Seeking a change

The committee felt that the best way to remove the malaise in selection matters was to elect three, four or five selectors from all over the country, and not on a regional basis. KSCA's Brijesh Patel had set in motion a resolution seeking to change the five-man selection committee to three.

According to the BCCI official, Chappell was in favour of picking the `best men' in the selection committee. The Australian also said that, on occasions, considerations other than merit had prevented the team management from picking the best XI.

Another reason Chappell cited for the bad blood prevailing in the dressing room was because certain players came to know about the discussions that had taken place at the selection committee meetings.

Ganguly had come to the committee meeting with six sets of papers, refuting the charges made by Chappell in his report to the BCCI. He even referred to his innings against Australia at Brisbane in the 2003 series to say that he was not afraid of fast bowling.

Ganguly also told the committee that the `faking injuries' accusation was changing the public perception of his ability as a cricketer. The six committee members returned the papers after Ganguly had finished reading and explained his position.

Unanimous decision

According to a BCCI official, all the members agreed that indiscipline on and off the field should not be tolerated. Chappell, it seems, pointed out some instances of indiscipline through gestures during the Indian Oil Cup in Colombo. The committee also did not take lightly Harbhajan Singh's outburst against Chappell and the BCCI is expected to reprimand the off-spinner.

Ashish Nehra, who is not too keen on playing Tests, went to England for rehabilitation after withdrawing from the team in Zimbabwe after the final of the Videocon Cup. Nehra will be asked to appear for a fitness test before he is considered for selection.

The Special Committee also felt that there was no need for the support staff like Ian Frazer to be employed on a regular basis. It is up to the BCCI president to consider Chappell's specific requests and place them before the Working Committee after the Marketing Committee meets to award the television rights.

The captain of the Indian team for the one-day series against Sri Lanka and South Africa will be decided after the Challenger Series to be played at Mohali from October 10 to 13. There will be a camp before the first ODI against Sri Lanka.

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