Ranji Debacle: After Prez’s scathing mail to Apex Council, DDCA sacks selection panel

New Delhi: The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) on Thursday sacked the senior selection committee comprising former national selector Gagan Khoda, Mayank Sidhana and Anil Bhardwaj on the same day when the state team was decimated by Saurashtra in a Ranji Trophy group league game.

Delhi senior team on Thursday slumped to an innings and 214 run defeat against Saurashtra and now has two points from four games having encountered two outright defeats.

On the first day, Delhi had slumped to 10 for 7 inside the first hour on a damp wicket and it could have been even more embarrassing.

A day after PTI reported the mess in DDCA post the “walkout” by Sidhana after a falling out with Khoda over the selection of the U-25 team, a visibly upset president Rohan Jaitley shot off a scathing e-mail to all the Apex Council members placing “on record” his “disapproval on the manner in which the men’s Selection Committees of the DDCA are discharging its affairs”.

“Yes, the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Nikhil Chopra, Gursharan Singh and Reema Malhotra will select the team for the next three games as Delhi are already out. The office bearers have approved the sacking of the committee after Sidhana and Khoda’s public fall-out,” a senior DDCA director told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Jaitley’s e-mail which is in possession of PTI, was a kind of fait accompli for the trio.

“I am stood compelled to write this mail for placing on record my disapproval of the manner in which the Men’s Selection Committees of the DDCA are discharging its affairs. It appears that such Committees are functioning without any visions and mission,” Jaitley’s stinker was as scathing as it could have got.

In fact, chairman Khoda’s habit of selecting 22 players for each match has openly been questioned by the DDCA president.

Jaitley has laid bare without naming how an injured player was sent as a replacement of an injured player.

“The issue of manner in which players are being selected and replaced at the drop of a hat has become talk of the town. Recently in a meeting, it was informed that a replacement was sent for a senior player who was stated to be injured, the replacement while reaching there was also declared to be injured and another replacement was sent.

“Despite clearly informing the Committee that the number of players shall be restricted to 15-16 players, the committee has time and again recommended 20-22 member squad for each team. Therefore, these committees are not only doing disservice to the DDCA but also to the game of Cricket,” the president was as blunt as he could get.

It must be mentioned that young captain Yash Dhull’s arbitrary decision to bat lower down the order has raised several questions about his temperament. Even on flat tracks, it is understood that Dhull doesn’t want to face seam and swing bowlers.

Jaitley was aghast that Delhi currently doesn’t have a single player.