'Vengsarkar should not have said so': Cricketnext

New Delhi: The Chairman of the Selection Committee Dilip Vengsarkar has opened a can of worms by saying that skipper Rahul Dravid insisted on including Virender Sehwag in the World Cup squad.

However, Vengasarkar's statement has come in from sharp criticism form ex-players and officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"I think if I heard right then he (Vengsarkar) had said that he (Sehwag) had done well in the past and added to that was the captain's desire to have him in the team. I don't think there is anything wrong in that. I feel that once the team is selected it is proper for anyone to discuss the team selection in public," Secretary of BCCI Ratnakar Shetty said.

Former India player and former selector Yashpal Sharma seconded Shetty's views.

"Well, I feel that if the chief selector is saying then it is not right to do so as the team has been selected. If the captain wanted Virender Sehwag, what was the chief selector doing? He could have said no then and there because if he was not interested in Sehwag he could have said no to the team management. Without the consent of the selectors Virender Sehwag couldn't have gone to the West Indies," Yashpal Shyarma said

When asked if there is modal code of conduct for selectors, Shetty said: "I think there is a model code of conduct that applies to everyone, even to the selectors. It is a very sensitive issue. I only wish that Dilip Vengsarkar should have refrained himself from making such comments when the team has already left for such an important event which we all look forward to. Such types of comments, even if they are not meant to be, could create controversies. It shouldn't be like that."

BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla, too, said it was not right on Vengsarkar's part to make the comments and that the officials should also abide by certain guideline while making any statements.

"It is the collective decision of the selection committee. When the committee meets, captain and coach are supposed to be there. It is a collective decision of all of them. In my view the Chairman of the Selection Committee should refrain from making such comments. This is silly as the whole process and the decision of the committee becomes controversial. So I think these kinds of statements should not be made. It is not that a code has been imposed on anybody but people should abide by the parameters. One should not flout by these guidelines which are already there," Shukla said.

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