Date:07/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/07/stories/2008010763041800.htm

Sport - Cricket

BCCI changes its mind on selectors’ foreign trips

Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has changed its stance over selectors travelling abroad to watch India’s performance and thereby allowing four of the five selectors to fly to Australia to watch the last two Test matches.

“Venkatapathy Raju and Ranjib Biswal will visit Australia to watch the last two Tests (at Perth and Adelaide) while the other two (Sanjay Jagdale and Bhupinder Singh) would go for the one-dayers. I don’t think Vengsarkar would be going to Australia,” the BCCI Secretary, Niranjan Shah, said on Sunday.

The Perth Test will be played from January 16 to 20 followed by the series-ender at Adelaide from January 24 to 28.

The Twenty20 one-off international between the two teams is scheduled for February 1 followed by the triangular series also featuring Sri Lanka from February 3 to March 7.

The latest change of stance of the BCCI, presumably done at the instance of its president Sharad Pawar, seems to have further diminished the friction between the selection panel and the Board officials.

The bar on selectors from travelling overseas was one of the orders issued as part of the guidelines to the selectors, which had upset Vengsarkar leading to his stand-off with the Board, which however was resolved amicably later.

The BCCI’s gag order to selectors not to interact with the media and the ban on writing columns, however, are still in place. — PTI