14 divided by 5
M S Shankar in Hyderabad
Did he - or did he not - say what he did?
The question, sparked by Sachin Tendulkar's reported comments in Bengali daily Aajkal and subsequently denied by the Indian skipper, rages on.
Underlying that question is a more crucial one: what really happened when the five selectors - Sambaran Bannerjee (East zone),
Shivlal Yadav (South), Kishen Rungta (Central) and M Pandove (North) met under the chairmanship of Ramakant Desai (West), with BCCI secretary J Y Lele recording the minutes?
One selector, speaking to this reporter on the phone, confirms that Sachin Tendulkar lost his cool on one occasion, when the selectors picked former captain Mohammad Azharuddin without any discussion. The argument this sparked, between the captain and the selectors, led to Tendulkar attempting to walk out of the meeting, before he was pacified by Lele.
This admission from the serving member of the selection committee, of course, flatly contradicts Tendulkar's assertion that he welcomes Azhar's reinstatement in the side.
It will be recalled that the Indian skipper, and manager Madan Lal, had told the selectors that they did not want Azhar in the side for the Independence Cup. 'At that time, none of us could do anything, as the skipper and manager were both rigid on the question of dropping Azhar," the selector confirmed on the phone.
Once the confusion over Azhar's inclusion was sorted out, Tendulkar asked for Vinod Kambli as one of the middle order batsmen, and was again overruled by the selectors, who believed that Navjot Singh Sidhu should be given another chance. The selector indicated that along with Sidhu, the name of VVS Laxman also came up for discussion.
So how was Sidhu picked? The concerned selector told this correspondent that M Pandove, of the north zone, put his foot down at this juncture and insisted that Sidhu be picked, stating that he had been given a raw deal in the past. Laxman, the selector added, had no real backing among the committee members. More so as the South already had six players in Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh
Prasad, Mohd Azharuddin, Robin Singh and Noel David.
Thus, the selector said, it all came down to filling out the respective quotas. Sambaran Bannerjee of the East zone favoured the inclusion of Debashish Mohanty of Orissa. Kishen Rungta of Central zone for his part insisted that Syed Saba Karim be picked for the keeper's slot. And in order to compensate the West zone for the exclusion of Kambli, it was decided to include left arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni.
Thus, when it came down to the wire, the South came away with six players, the North had Jadeja and Sidhu, the East had Ganguly and Mohanti, the West had three in Tendulkar, Kuruvilla and Kulkarni and Central had Saba Karim.
Had Nayan Mongia been picked, the selector pointed out, then Central zone would have been
left unrepresented.
So there, then, is selectorial arithmetic at its simplest.
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