Not another Ganguly saga, promises Board

In a repeat of another such episode, Desai’s report to the board on what took place during India’s tour of South Africa has been leaked to the media. Chappell and Sehwag, according to the report, had been involved in several heated debates along the tour even as the cricketer refused to come to the ground for practice or listen to the coach. To top that, Dravid insisted on picking Sehwag for matches despite his attitude and poor form and has been blamed for the team’s defeat in the last Test.

The BCCI, however, has decided that this controversy will not blow up into another Sourav Ganguly saga that had the entire country divided.

Speaking to The Indian Express, secretary Niranjan Shah said that the BCCI would speak to skipper Dravid and Desai on the issue and arrive at a conclusion. “Both are responsible individuals who had a duty to perform and neither’s honesty in the issue can be questioned. However, we are still not in a position to say a word because we still do not entirely know what the situation is. The president (Sharad Pawar) is going through the matter and will come to a decision in this regard. We will not let the situation blow up,’’ Shah said.

However, the board is definitely worried about the statements made by Dravid on Desai during the team’s first ODI against Sri Lanka at Kolkata that was washed away.

“We need to speak to him (Dravid) and question his motive behind those comments. Desai was the manager on the tour and he did his job when he submitted his report, which is what a manager needs to do.

The BCCI, however, if first interested in finding out who has leaked the manager’s report. “There is something seriously wrong here and we certainly need to find out how this happened,’’ Shah said, accepting that these were the same incidents that had led to Ganguly becoming a national debate.