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Journalism of Courage
Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar sought to steer clear of Rahul Dravid’s sudden resignation as captain of the Indian team, saying he had never criticised him and had no idea why he chose to step down.
Dravid relinquished the captaincy all of a sudden last week and put the BCCI in a fix amidst speculation that he was not getting the co-operation from the selection committee.
“I don’t know why he quit. He did not tell me,” Vengsarkar told a media conference after the selection committee chose M S Dhoni to lead India in the twelve ODIs against Australia (7) and Pakistan (5) at home.
Asked if it was his criticism which led to Dravid’s resignation, Vengsarkar said, “I did not criticise Dravid, that’s a wrong impression.”
Rather, Vengsarkar argued, it could be constant media pressure that forced Dravid to relinquish the job.
“It may be due to media scrutiny. May be it was too much for him,” he said.
Asked if he had tried to persuade Dravid to stay on as India captain, Vengsarkar said, “No, I did not persuade, because I respect his decision. He was an excellent captain and did very well.”
BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah too tried to make light of the issue by saying that players when they chose to retire generally inform the President of the BCCI and not the selectors.
“There’s nothing wrong in a player telling the BCCI chief that he is quitting captaincy. Generally players who are retiring tell the president and not the selectors. Senior players like Dravid know what they are doing,” Shah explained.
