The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) senior selection committee, including former national selector Gagan Khoda, was sacked late on Thursday after the team’s humiliating innings and 214 defeat against Saurashtra in three days.
The other two fired selectors are Mayank Sidhana and Anil Bhardwaj.
The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) fired the selectors a few hours after DDCA President Rohan Jaitley, in a letter to Apex Council members and the CAC, blamed the Khoda-led selection committee for their “little commitment” to Delhi cricket .
DDCA director Shyam Sharma confirmed that the selectors had been asked to go. “The selection committee has been dismissed by the CAC today,” Sharma told The Indian Express.
Four games, two points and a seventh place between 8 teams on the points table in Group B means Delhi may be relegated.
Things had turned ugly with infighting within the selection committee and also a strike. Chopping and changing the team and injuries have not helped. Questions have also been raised about how to deal with injuries and player fitness. Jaitley, who himself wanted to bring in out-of-state selectors such as Rajasthan’s Khoda for the season, seems to have quickly lost his temper and shrugged off responsibility when things spiraled out of control.
“Despite giving free rein and full support, I must conclude that the selection committee has not done any good for the Delhi players in general and the Delhi team in particular. There is an absolute lack of planning for Delhi Cricket which is clear on the face of it more so with regard to the vision and future course as discussed and planned for the long term goals set by the management aiming to bring back the lost glory of Delhi cricket it’s a pity that the selection committee has shown little commitment to that,” Jaitley wrote in his letter, which was viewed by The Indian Express.
Jaitley’s letter came a day after Mayank Sidana, a senior team and under-25 Delhi selector, staged a strike following an altercation with chairman of selectors Khoda and secretary Siddharth Sahib Singh.
Khoda blamed Sidana for the dissension among members of the selection committee.
“I’ve never played in Delhi before and I’m a person who has no agenda. But seeing him (Sidana) use just one name repeatedly, it amused me and the rest of the people in the gathering. I don’t understand why he ran away Khoda, a former national selector, told The Indian Express.
Former Delhi batsman and coach KP Bhaskar has blamed the policy of choosing selectors from outside Delhi and the lack of continuity in the playing XI for Delhi’s abysmal season.
“How can you pick selectors who know nothing about cricket in Delhi? I disagree with this theory of calling selectors from the outside. One has played his cricket for Rajasthan, the other has played for Punjab,” Bhaskar, who has played 95 first-class matches for Delhi and coached the team to the finals in the 2017-2018 season, told this newspaper.
Short Scores: Delhi 133 and 227 in 63.5 overs (Ayush Badoni 40, Hrithik Shokeen 51; Yuvrajsinh Dodiya 5/91) lost to Saurashtra 574 for 8 decl in 147.2 overs