DDCA power shift triggers showdown

The newly-formed Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) Sports Committee (SC) was elected just over a month back, but they put the ca...

The newly-formed Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) Sports Committee (SC) was elected just over a month back, but they put the cat among the pigeons today, recommending the sacking of chairman of the DDCA selection committee Chetan Chauhan and Delhi coach Madan Lal. On their part, Chauhan and Madan won’t go quietly, and as things stand right now a war of words is clearly on the cards.

Explaining their stance, Vinod Tihara — SC convenor — said, ‘‘Since Puru Raj Singh (Chauhan’s nephew) and Kunal Lal (Madan’s son) are in contention, we felt they shouldn’t be there.

In fact, we have added a sixth name to the list of selectors (after the original five) given to the Executive Committee (EC) so that they have more choice.’’

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The set pattern for the last four seasons is of the SC providing a list of 10-15 names to choose the selectors, coaches and managers from.

Now, while the recommendations might not result in anything substantial because the EC has the power to veto everything, it’s clear that the confrontation is starting.

	Following are the names suggested by the sports committee

			• Ranji Trophy: Kirti Azad (chairman), Sunil Khanna, N P Singh, Venkat Sundaram, Suresh Luthra. Coach: Maninder Singh Jaggi. Manager: D S Bawa. • Ranji ODI manager: Dr S S Sareen. Under-22: Yashpal Sharma (chairman), Rakesh Shukla, Umesh Sharma, Raju Tandon, Anand Verma. Coach: Hitesh Sharma. Under-19: Sunil Dev (chairman), Manu Nayyar, Pradeep Kashyap, Mahesh Bhatti, Anil Sharma. Coach: Ajit Chaudhary. Manager: Manoj Kapoor. • ODI manager: S S Khurana. Under-17: Sunil Dev (chairman), Raj Kumar, Pradeep Gupta, Devender Bisht, Arun Mahajan. Coach: Gursharan Singh. Manager: Subramaniam. • Under-15: Sunil Dev (chairman), Pawan Sharma, Suresh Batra, Bola Shankar, Ashok Malhotra. Coach: Ajay Verma. Manager: Kamal Nigam. Chief coach: Tarak Sinha. Joint coach co-ordinator: Anil Jain. Hony Ground administrator: Radhey Shyam Sharma. Junior state coach: Rajeev Vinayak.

For example, the Airlines Gold Cup tournament starts in Delhi on Thursday and the SC has named a team to participate in it. But with the issue causing a rethink, DDCA Sports Secretary Sunil Dev today declared that the team will not be given official status.

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Speaking to The Indian Express, Chauhan — also part of the EC — chose to walk the hard line: ‘‘If the SC wants a confrontation, we are prepared to face it. The question is not who are all in the panel submitted by them. It’s the question of authority. The EC has the supreme power in the running of the game.’’

Madan, on his part, was angry at this sudden turnaround. He said, ‘‘How can they terminate me in the middle of my contract? I’ll not take it lying down.’’

But this sort of sacking is not without precedent. Two seasons ago, the then SC sought the removal of Bishan Singh Bedi as coach while the former India skipper had another year of contract remaining.

DDCA president Arun Jaitley intervened to allow Bedi to complete the term. Some of the names the present SC has given are also surprising because people like Bantoo Singh — coach of the U-19 team that won the Cooch Behar Trophy last year — has also been left out.