BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma found himself amid a controversy on Tuesday after he allegedly revealed classified information related to player selection during a sting operation conducted by Zee News. Sharma was recently reinstated by the BCCI after being removed following India’s performance in the T20 World Cup in Australia. In the sting, Sharma also allegedly revealed his internal discussions with head coach Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli.
Sharma alleged that a lot of players take injections to expedite their return to competitive cricket despite being 80 to 85 per cent fit, news agency PTI reported. During the conversation in the sting video, Sharma claimed that there was an ego tussle between former India captain Virat Kohli and former BCCI President Sourav Ganguly. He alleged that Kohli tried to defame the then BCCI President Ganguly because he felt the latter was responsible for him losing the ODI captaincy.
The former India pace bowler also alleged that there was a difference of opinion between him and the team management over Bumrah’s return from a stress fracture for the T20I series against Australia in September, the PTI report stated.
According to the report, the BCCI is looking into the matter, as national selectors are bound by contract and not supposed to speak to the media. The news agency further quoted an anonymous BCCI official as saying that BCCI Secretary Jay Shah will take a call on what will be Chetan’s future. “The question is whether T20 skipper Hardik Pandya or ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma would like to sit with Chetan in a selection meeting knowing that he has let out internal discussions,” the official added.