Haze on Desai quitting

MUMBAI, March 9: The resignation of National selection committee chairman Ramakant Desai is turning out to be a funny affair. While there we...

MUMBAI, March 9: The resignation of National selection committee chairman Ramakant Desai is turning out to be a funny affair. While there were enough indicators to substantiate the former Test star’s decision to quit, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was more content in putting the issue to the back-burner.

“Nothing is clear at present,” remarked the BCCI chief Raj Singh Dungarpur. “He (Desai) has informed us that he is not keeping well and is not able to travel for selection committee meetings. But the doctors have said that we should give him sufficient time to recover….We are just waiting,”

he said.

Desai, who has been enduring a heart ailment, had reportedly tendered his resignation citing ill-health. However, there is no official word on it yet.The BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele was firm in issuing a denial in Chennai that he had received Desai’s resignation letter. On the contrary, if the information filtering out of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) is to be believed thenDesai had sent his resignation on Saturday itself.

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Desai, himself was averse on speaking to the media about it. All calls were answered by his wife, who disclosed that Desai was sick and needed rest.However, sources close to the ex-pace ace claim that he is firm about his decision. The 59-year-old Desai, in fact, was keen on going to Chennai to deliver the letter but had to forego the trip following medical persuasion.

Speculations are rife about the successor to Desai and topping the list is former Indian captain Ajit Wadekar. The BCCI president Dungapur, who is empowered to decide upon the replacement, however, doused the fire saying: “Nothing has been decided at present.” He emphatically stated that for the moment Desai remains as the selection committee chief.