The explosive Zee News Sting Video on chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma may have some major fallouts soon. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may give the chief selector a chance to defend himself but the former India all-rounder’s position has become ‘untenable’ after his ‘lose-talk’ over cricketers using ‘fake fitness injection’, comments on Virat Kohli and other top Indian cricketers.
The immediate question doing the rounds in the BCCI is whether he would be allowed to attend the next selection committee meeting before the squad of the third and fourth Test against Australia is announced. It is understood that Chetan Sharma being caught in a sting operation hasn’t gone down too well with the top brass of the BCCI, according to news agency PTI, but the incident might have a far reaching impact on the relationship between media on one hand and the Indian team and selectors on the other.
“No player or selector will be comfortable on sharing a cordial relationship even with well meaning journalists after this sting as the trust factor has been compromised,” a senior BCCI source PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Chetan Sharma boasts about how every player including Rohit Sharma talks to him for hours but Virat Kohli never involved himself in this. Kohli has always kept his self respect above position & power. pic.twitter.com/R7BTeu8wDS
— Pari (@BluntIndianGal) February 14, 2023
While Chetan’s claims are mostly been taken as loose talk and stuff that was already known in cricket fraternity, he had certainly lost trust and respect of the players. “Chetan spoke a bit too much. None of the top India players talk to him. Have you seen him speak to Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma publicly in any training session. He would stand in one corner during T20 World Cup in Australia and no one bothered to speak to him,” another BCCI source who was present in Australia said.
It has been learnt that Chetan might be given a chance to defend himself but whether he would be able to sit across the table with Rohit Sharma or Hardik Pandya is the question. The bigger question is whether the players would want to have any engagement with him.
Team hotel change due to G20 summit, marriage season
The ongoing G20 summit as well as the marriage season has led to a paucity of bulk hotel rooms in five star facilities across Delhi and hence the Indian team that normally stays at Taj Palace or ITC Maurya is staying at Hotel Leela near Noida.
“The hotel is fantastic and facilities are nice. It’s an unavoidable situation and hence the shift,” a BCCI official said.
Former India captain Virat Kohli, who has a home in Gurugram, is staying at his residence for a couple of days and he has taken permission from the team management to do so.
(with PTI inputs)
