Desai, Tendulkar fought for Kambli, Mongia, but were stumped
National cricket selection committee chairman Ramakant
Desai admitted on Thursday that there was a major dispute during the selection of the team for the Asia Cup.
While Desai and Tendulkar wanted middle-order batsman Vinod Kambli and wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia included, selectors Kishen
Rungta, M Pandove, Sambaran Bannerjee and Shivlal Yadav were dead against it.
The team was selected Monday in Bangalore.
Reacting to a report in a Bengali daily which quoted
Tendulkar extensively, Desai said
the skipper and he were helpless in the face of the other selectors's stiff opposition.
"Everybody agrees that Mongia is the best wicket-keeper in
the business. The fact that he was not selected
will create a lot of heart-burn and soul
searching,'' Desai said.
However, Desai clarified he did not agree with Tendulkar's reported statement that he had been given a B grade team.
Further, Desai questioned the credibility of the report. "Tendulkar has a wise head and knows the futility of crying over
spilt milk in public," he said. Moreover, the skipper had very little time on his hands when he reached Bombay (on his way to London for the captains meet), he said, and there was no way he would have given a long interview.
"If at all he (Sachin) had to speak, he would go guardedly about it and not scream from
the roof top," he said.
The Bengal daily, claiming to have interviewed Tendulkar on the telephone, quoted him as wanting to 'speak
the truth' and 'lies do not serve any purpose'.
UNI
EARLIER FEATURE:
Unfair, unfair cricket!
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