Sourav Ganguly is the BCCI's first president since January 2017 and looks set to complete his tenure. (File)Ever since the announcement of the India squad for their tour to Australia, Sourav Ganguly has been quite pro-active as the BCCI president, often talking about players’ fitness levels and availability.
After the BCCI announced the Sunil Joshi-led selection committee-named squads, Ganguly on several occasions assured that Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma are being closely monitored. However, on Monday, BCCI left Rohit Sharma out of the limited-overs squads of India.
Dilip Vengsarkar, the former India captain and chairman of selectors, expressed his displeasure with Ganguly taking up the selectors’ duty.
“When the IPL dates and venues were being discussed and organized, he was speaking on behalf of the IPL chairman. Sadly, time and again he’s sticking his neck out on behalf of those who are capable of taking decisions and explaining them on their own. Is he undermining their credentials? Or does he feel he knows more than the others?” Vengsarkar told Times of India in an interview.
“I always believed the game should be run by former cricketers and was expecting a lot from Ganguly. However, whatever I have seen so far is beginning to change my mind.”
The entire row of confusion surrounding Rohit’s availability during the Australia tour was also criticised by Vengsarkar.
“Rohit surprisingly sees himself being dropped from the India team for the tour because the BCCI physio has ruled him out due to hamstring injury. Now, the question is: How did the MI physio declare Rohit fit to play in the IPL? Why is there a discrepancy in the reports of two physios?” he added.
“I really don’t know who calls the shots while selecting the squad. Is it the BCCI officials or the selectors?”
“If Rohit joins the team and Virat Kohli is not available for the last two Tests, Ajinkya Rahane, the already appointed vice-captain for the longer format, will have to lead the side and not Rohit. I wonder what Ganguly has to say about these issues,” he further added.