Irresponsible journalism, screams Dungarpur

Manager of the touring Indian team denies he had described Ganguly the laziest, and possibly the worst fielder.

Faced with criticism of his remarks against Sourav, Raj Singh Dungarpur, the former BCCI chief and manager of the squad, emphatically denied that he had made disparaging remarks about Sourav Ganguly. He has termed it "irresponsible journalism of the worst kind",

HT Image

Dungarpur said he had tremendous respect for Sourav and his job was to make every member of the side as comfortable as possible.

He said he had been the manager of the Indian team four times and "would never compromise on my integrity."

Earlier, Dungarpur had reportedly described Sourav as the "laziest and possibly the worst fielder" of the side.

"Sourav is not a student of the game. He is also not a role model of a captain. A captain cannot be the laziest and possbily the worst fielder of the side," Dungarpur had reportedly told television reporters here a day after the Indian team arrived in Lahore for a three-test and five ODI series.

The Indian manager's remarks came a day before Ganguly and three other players are to join the team in Pakistan. Ganguly, along with Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble and Parthiv Patel, had stayed back in India to play Ranji Trophy match.

Dungarpur had claimed that former Indian cricket team coach John Wright was frustrated with the ways of Sourav Ganguly but could not get the Kolkatan removed as skipper.

Dungarpur said Wright had "expressed his frustrations several times" to him about Ganguly but he was too "mild" to succeed in getting Ganguly out.

"Wright was a little mild. He always had huge problems with Sourav," he said adding that however "he could not get the captain changed."