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BCCI delinks from Minhas controversy

The Board of Control for Cricket in India absolved itself of blame in the controversy of Mithun Minhas attending the ongoing camp for the Indian A team in Delhi.

The A team, under V V S Laxman, will be playing five one-day matches against the Australian A team in Los Angeles, USA, from September 15 to 22.

Media reports emating from Singapore had stated that Mithun Minhas and J P Yadav had been selected for the A team, after Jacob Martin and Amit Bhandari, who were originally named for the squad, were elevated to fill vacancies in the Indian senior team going to Toronto to take on the West Indies.

Chairman of selectors Ajit Wadekar said, ''We (captain Tendulkar, coach Gaekwad, BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele and Wadekar himself) did discuss about the possible names for the US tour after the elevation of two players into the national team.

"However, it was decided that the announcement would be made in india after taking into confidence the other four selectors," Wadekar said.

Wadekar said that the names of Minhas, Rohan Gavaskar, Jatin Paranjpe, Ashish Nehra and Reetinder Singh Sodhi were discussed. After deliberations (by the selectors) it was decided that a bowler would be much better, since there was shortage of bowlers in the Indian A team, and so it was decided to include Nehra into the team along with J P Yadav, Wadekar said.

Wadekar also said that it must have been a communication gap that made Minhas attend the ongoing prepatory camp for the team in Delhi.

Wadekar however wondered why Minhas had landed up at the camp when there was no official communication from the board. ''The board had not officially convened to Minhas about his inclusion in the team, he should not have gone by press reports but waited for the official communication,'' Wadekar concluded.