Dungarpur denies saying Indian coaches are biased

Former Board of Control for Cricket in India president Raj Singh Dungarpur on Friday vehemently denied news reports that he had said Indian coaches could be biased towards certain players.

Refuting statements on these lines attributed to him by the Gulf News, the current chairman of the BCCI's National Cricket Academy said: "I never used the word bias when the Gulf News reporter contacted me over phone.

"You reporters used to contact me on several occasions during my tenure as board president. Have I ever used the word bias?," he countered.

"All I told the reporter was that all of us in the board, including me, are affiliated to state associations or units and one of the biggest advantages a foreign coach will have is that he is not connected to any association or unit," Dungarpur said.

"The other major advantage which both John Wright and Greg Chappell (the two people now in the running for the post of India's cricket coach) have is that they have been involved in coaching in the past.

"Australian Dave Whatmore is coaching Sri Lanka, (England's) Bob Woolmer had done so well for South Africa till recently, and England, which has produced so many outstanding players, has Zimbabwe's Duncan Fletcher as coach," Dungarpur pointed out, in support of the board's decision to go in for a foreign coach.

"I would like to pay a compliment to Anshuman Gaekwad who was gracious enough to accept the job (on a short-term basis). He had done a wonderful job when he was coach for two years," he said.

"Shortly, the board will find a place for him, where he will play a constructive role with his deep knowledge of the game," Dungarpur added.

Mail Cricket Editor