The big boys, it has been learnt, have asked Sachin to convey their grievances to Pawar. Tendulkar is said to have agreed to take the matter forward.
MUMBAI: The media lambasting being dished out to the senior players has got the old guard shaken. Senior players have sought time with BCCI president Shard Pawar to explain their side of the story in the wake of various allegations surfacing in the press in the last few days. That the majority of these accusations allegedly stem from Greg Chappell has got the senior pros all the more riled.
The big boys, it has been learnt, have asked Sachin Tendulkar to convey their grievances to Pawar and Tendulkar is said to have agreed to take the matter forward.
The players are still sticking to the gentlemen’s agreement asked for by captain Rahul Dravid at the last team meeting in the Caribbean. Dravid had asked the team to desist from blaming others and to refrain from finger-pointing.
But they do seem to feel that it is important to give the complete picture to Pawar as they fear the report which Chappell is to submit to the BCCI on April 6. Leaks which appear to be emanating from the Chappell camp have also irked the players as they feel the coach is going against the general consensus agreed upon at the meeting.
The senior players have gathered that Chappell is going to be scathing about the attitude of some of the more entrenched names in the side inclusive of Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh as well as the bowling trio of Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agrakar.
An instance where a senior fast bowler abused a promising junior, who took out drinks for him during a match, is learnt to be part of Chappell’s case about haughty behaviour of a certain clique of seniors. The players, on their part, intend to take up valid issues like the ambiguous role of Ian Fraser who had limited credentials to speak of and then failed to do much on the ground.
Chappell’s problem with Tendulkar is said to have begun from the Champions Trophy when the Little Master was urged to go down the order and play the innings bolstering role that Ricky Ponting and Inzamam-ul-Haq play for their sides. Tendulkar, on his part, is more comfortable opening.
Meanwhile, team sources are vehement that the decision to bat first against Bangladesh had seen no opposition from the coach as it was felt that the batters could do with a good knock before the Super Eights and that was clearly not going to be possible if Bangladesh was put in first and then bowled out cheaply.
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