DILIP VENGSARKAR FIRES AT BCCI MEETING

Former Indian captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar reportedly kicked up a storm during the recent working committee meeting of the BCCI when he took on former BCCI president IS Bindra on the selection of venues for the recently concluded two-match Test series against England and wanted to know why former Indian opener Wasim Jafffer was not clubbed in Grade-B in the latest Players Contract.According to a BCCI source, Vengsarkar's comments on the selection of venues for the home series against England in his column in the DNA prompted Bindra to say in the meeting that it was unfortunate that some members of a state association had questioned the allotment of the second Test to Mohali after the terror strikes in Mumbai forced the venue to be shifted.Vengsarkar, admitting that he was the one who raised the issue in his column in the December 11 issue, wondered why Kolkata was not considered as venue for the second Test and why Mohali was given two Test matches in a row.Though BCCI president Sashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan tried to convince Vengsarkar by maintaining that the England team was not willing to play anywhere other than Chennai and Mohali and hence the board was forced to have one Test at Mohali, the former chief selector was not impressed.

The Colonel also took on the BCCI regarding the players contract and wanted to know the yardstick to club players in different grades. He wanted to know why Jaffer was not included in Grade-B despite scoring two double hundreds in Tests and S Badrinath, who is yet to play in a Test match, was preferred over Jaffer and why Ajinkya Rahane was not give a contract.Meanwhile, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president and former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya also pitched in at that moment and wanted to know why Manoj Tiwary and Ranadeb Bose, who have played for India and India-A, have not been given the contracts, according to sources.

Though BCCI insisted that the gradation was decided by the chairman of selection committee (Krishnamachari Srikkanth) and the gradation committee and that the views of Vengsarkar and Dalmiya would be taken into consideration in future, the twosome were reportedly unimpressed, it is learnt.