Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan, on Friday, hit back at former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar and called his recent allegations about selection a “blatant lie”.
Talking to PTI, Srinivasan said, “At the outset, I deny this as completely false, motivated and without any basis. I was just a treasurer that time and everyone knows it’s the president who wields the power in BCCI.”
Srinivasan also claimed that the reason why Vengsarkar’s contract was not extended was because he failed to fulfill the new criteria passed by the Board under its then president Shard Pawar.
Srinivasan said that though he does not know why Vengsarkar is talking about a 10-year-old incident but it’s not good.
“I don’t know on whose behalf he is talking and what his motive is. In the past, people have said so many things, but I have never bothered about criticism. But when a cricketer talks like this, in contrary to facts, it’s not good,” Srinivasan said.
“I would also like to clarify that Vengsarkar was the vice-president of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) in 2008. This is an elected post. In August 2008, the working committee chaired by Pawar decided to implement certain norms for the appointment of selection committees. As the selection committee members would be paid an annual fee, one of the recommendations was that a selector should not be an office bearer of BCCI or affiliated units,” Srinivasan said.
“The reason why BCCI went with a new selector is Vengsarkar refused to stand down as MCA vice-president. When the reappointment of the selection committee came up at the 2008 AGM, Vengsarkar chose to continue as vice-president of MCA and hence could not be considered. Pawar was president and Niranjan Shah was the secretary during this AGM,” he said.
“This is totally unwarranted and defies logic. Vengsarkar continued to be the VP of the Mumbai CA until 2010 and again in 2014,” he said.
Srinivasan, also said that he has no animosity towards Vengsarkar. “I have respected him as a cricketer and looked at him as a national hero. There is no question of animosity. In 1994, India Cements contributed a princely sum for his benefit match. And again, when he was a vice president of MCA, he approached me for the renovation of Dadar Union Club.”
“The allegations that one player was dropped in favour of another player who was selected for the Indian squad to the Sri Lanka tour in 2008 which is the decision that allegedly resulted in his removal itself is not even borne out by the events in 2008, as both the players mentioned by Vengsarkar ultimately figured in the squad. It is a pity that Vengsarkar is trying to cast aspersions on me. I find it unbecoming and highly unprofessional of a former selector to act in this manner,” he concluded.