BCCI chairman Sharad Pawar expressed the hope that chairman of the selection committee Dilip Vengarkar would reconsider his decision but if he remained steadfast then the working committee of the board would discuss and decide the issue during its meeting on 16th of December in Mumbai.
"He is a colleague and I hope that he would reconsider his decision. As far as I am concerned he is still the chairman of the selection committee which would pick up the team for Australian tour on December 5," Pawar told newsmen at a press conference.
According to board officials if Vengsarkar fails to attend the meeting then it would presided over by Sanjay Jagdale, the senior most selector. Asked if Chandu Borde was replaceing Vengsarkar from West Zone, Pawar said that he too has seen news reports in leading papers but refused to say anything beyond that.
Will you meet Vengsarkar to sort out the differences? " I have already met him once and now it is upto him to return the call. The basic demand of Vengsarkar is that he is seeking compensation to give up writing columns in newspapers. Never before a selector have made this sort of demand nor have they been allowed to write. I know that he has been writing for one and a half years but action was action when it got noticed," he said giving an indirect him about Vengsarkar's allegations that BCCI secretary Ratnakar Shetty wanted to get his son selected in the national squad.
He made it abundantly clear that under no circumstances BCCI is going to relax the rules and allow Vengsarkar to write column while he holds official post of chairman of the selection committee. " It is unfortunate that the controversy has arisen when the team is doing well. As chairman of the selection committee you do not talk about individual players and their performance or selection etc.," he pointed out. Though Vengsarkar had threatened to resign from the post by six in the evening he did not do so while Pawar was holding a press meet.
Talking about the difficulties expressed by Gary Kirsten for taking over as the coach of the Indian squad as some of the senior players have expressed their reservations about him, Pawar said that Kirsten had put some conditions.
"He wants arrangements for his wife and two kids," said Pawar.
