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MS Dhoni didn't want Virat Kohli to debut in 2008, claims Dilip Vengsarkar

Sensational claims from the former India chief selector!

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Dilip Vengsarkar has made a stunning claim that his stint as chief selector of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) national selection committee in 2008 was cut short because he backed Virat Kohli back then.

Speaking to reporters during a function in Mumbai on Wednesday, the former India captain said that his backing of Kohli - who had led India to the Under-19 World Cup title - ahead of Tamil Nadu's Subramaniam Badrinath didn't go down well with then BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan.

Vengsarkar claimed that he wanted to hand Kohli his ODI debut during the tour of Sri Lanka that year, but then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten were not in favour, and that led to Srinivasan sacking him.

 

"I felt this was an ideal situation to include Kohli in the squad. Although the other four selectors agreed with my decision, Gary Kirsten and MS Dhoni were reluctant as they had not seen much of Kohli. I told them that I have seen him and we have to include him in the team,” said Vengsarkar. “I knew that they were keen on keeping S Badrinath in the team because he was a Chennai Super Kings (CSK) player. If Kohli would have come in, Badrinath would have been dropped. N Srinivasan was the BCCI treasurer at that time. He was upset that Badrinath was dropped because he was their player.”

Vengsarkar, who had taken over the role of chief selector from former India stumper Kiran More, said that he was convinced it was Srinivasan who ensured his ouster.

 

The 61-year-old explained how he had a debate with Srinivasan regarding Kohli and Badrinath's selection for the Lanka tour. Vengsarkar said that he was in favour of the current India skipper because he had seen the Delhi lad perform well during the Emerging Players tour to Australia. But apparently, Srinivasan argued that Badrinath had scored over 800 runs for Tamil Nadu that season and deserved his debut since he was already 29-years-old.

"I told him he will get his chance but I can't tell you when," recalled Vengsarkar. "The very next day, he (Srinivasan) took (Kris) Srikkanth (who went on to become the next chief selector) to Sharad Pawar, who was the (BCCI) president then and that was the end of my selection tenure."

 

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