The Board of Control for Cricket in India has virtually put captain Sourav Ganguly on notice, saying the selection committee may have to take a decision on his future if he failed to come out of the prolonged form slump.
The BCCI president, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, has also said it would not be prudent to pass a hasty judgement on coach Greg Chappell, whose public spat with the captain created headlines recently, and his preference for doing away with the zonal system of appointing selectors.
Mahendra said the Board was concerned over Ganguly's poor run but believed that it was approriate to give the players, especially the captain, some time to find their form.
"You should give some time to the selection committee and the players, particularly Sourav himself. If in the coming days, the performance does not improve, the selection committee, would be keeping in mind the feelings of crores of cricket fans and take an appropriate decision," Mahendra told BBC Hindi Programme in an interview.
To a specific question on whether Ganguly should continue as captain, Mahendra said "It is for the selection committee to decide and the Board does not interfere in the matter."
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The BCCI chief also rebutted suggestions that the Board was turning a blind eye to Ganguly's poor form and his tendency to get embroiled in controversies which was a dangerous sign for the country's cricketing future.
"See what you are saying could also be the feeling of many other cricket fans in the country. But let us all not forget that recently Ganguly has scored a Test hundred in Zimbabwe", he said.
"Ganguly also might be seriously thinking about his form. So to say that we are not concerned or bothered is not right, we very much are," Mahendra said.
Referring to an observation that Chappell had brought tension to the team, Mahendra said "an opinion should not be formed about an individual in haste. We would be doing grave injustice to him by passing such a judgment so soon."
"We would have to give reasonable time to Greg and then I think such an opinion would not remain. At times, when the team performance is not up to the mark, and it is passing through a critical phase, such thoughts do come to mind. But my view is that jumping to conclusion so soon about the coach would not be fair."
Mahendra admitted that recent developments had adversely affected the image of Indian cricket and the BCCI had taken corrective measures to ensure that such things do not occur again.
"We have ordered a probe into leaking of coach Chappell's e-mail to the Board...At the same time we have taken corrective measures to ensure that such things do not happen in the future," he said.
"Many players have also said that they feel whatever happened in the dressing room should not have come out in the open.From here, all of us have realized that we need to avoid such situations, and work for the betterment of the game and its fans."
