Jaitely assures Sehwag to look into players' grievances
Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag will be staying on in Delhi after receiving assurances from Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) president Arun Jaitley late on Monday evening that the changes he wanted in the DDCA would materialise. HT Correspondent reports. Can Sehwag & friends ring in change in Delhi?
A top source told HT that Sehwag arrived late evening at Jaitley’s Kailash Colony residence. They were joined there by DDCA general secretary Sneh Bansal. “Gautam (Sehwag’s Delhi teammate Gambhir) came in later, though the surprise was (former India captain) Tiger Pataudi, who also joined in later.” Pataudi is known for staying away from anything to do with Delhi cricket, but apparently agreed to come at Sehwag’s request.
The discussion was “cordial” said the source, adding that, as reported by HT, it centred around the interference from different quarters in Delhi’s selection policies in various age-group and the Ranji teams. “The meeting saw nothing contentious discussed, it was all about cricketing and team matters. We all thought we had to use this as an opportunity to do something, make some much needed institutional changes in the set-up,” said the official.
“We will also be open to exploring the possibility of a cricket committee,” he added. “The only difficulty will be getting good guys and non-troublemakers to make it work. There’s no point in having someone who’s looking to get into fights for everything too.”
Apparently, Jaitley received recommendations for the Ranji selection committee, which “should be” accepted. It will be a smaller,
tighter committee than ones in the past. “The main problem will be in getting men of experience and spine,” said an official. “Despite the number of players Delhi has produced, again and again, it really comes back to the same five names”.The issue of the sports committee’s interference in selections was brought up and, at a later meeting on Monday night--- Jaitley apparently later called in DDCA vice-presidents Chetan Chauhan, Suresh Chopra, CK Khanna and sports seceretary Sunil Dev and discussions went on late into the night --- it was decided that the sports committee’s role would be kept to what it was originally created for, to the conduct of the DDCA league and looking after the welfare of its clubs.
In addition, while the sports committee would keep its ability to recommend, the executive committee’s right to veto any and all recommendations would be strictly enforced.
It is understood that Sehwag, who had insisted that the meeting be kept small, unlike the usual DDCA meetings, said he wanted an assurance that there would be change and received that assurance. He, in turn, assured Jaitley that he would stay on in Delhi.
Jaitley will address the media at 5pm on Tuesday at the Kotla.