Former selector Raja Venkat’s revelations ‘creates unnecessary disharmony in the dressing room’

Mumbai: Former India selector Raja Venkat’s revelations on what panned out during committee meetings to a Bengali tabloid has triggered sharp criticisms in the BCCI and more so among his former colleagues and secretaries, who were also part of the decision making process, according to a report in the ‘Hindustan Times’.

The confidentiality clause prohibits selectors from disclosing information on discussions during meetings to outsiders but once the term of a selector ends, there are no restrictions, raising questions on the ambiguity of the clause.

"It was part of our contract not to disclose the selection matters publicly with at least five years cooling off period post a term. But there is an unwritten rule, it's an ethics issue not to bring selection matters into public domain," Ranjib Biswal, a former selector told the daily.

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"It leaves a bad taste. It creates unnecessary disharmony in the dressing room once you make it known who backed who in selection meetings. If there is any opposition in the meetings then you protest within. Revealing things only damages the interest of Indian cricket," Kiran More, former chairman of selectors added.

Raja Venkat, who was a part of the selection committee then, said that had N Srinivasan not vetoed, Virat Kohli would have taken over from MS Dhoni as Indian cricket skipper following the disastrous tour of Australia.

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"Raja Venkat's disclosure is bereft of cricketing logic. When the selection was done for the tri-series in Australia after India lost the first Test, the selection committee's call for Dhoni's head was illogical and that too when India were the reigning world champions in ODIs. In just six months, after winning the World Cup, they were thinking of removing Dhoni and that too replace him with Kohli in ODIs," a source close to Srinivasan, was quoted as saying in the daily.