DNA has also reliably learnt that at least two of the senior members of Team India had let their views known to a top BCCI officer in Mumbai recently alleging that Arora has been over-indulgent in dressing room matters and has been reporting it verbatim to Thakur.
Is the ousted Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Anurag Thakur still calling the shots inside Team India dressing room? This question has been bothering almost all Indian players, who were part of Team India’s Test, One-day and T20 squads that defeated England recently.
At least two of the senior members of the Indian team told this paper after the completion of series that team’s media manager Nishant Arora has been leaking details of dressing room talks to former president Thakur.
DNA has also reliably learnt that at least two of the senior members of Team India had let their views known to a top BCCI officer in Mumbai recently alleging that Arora has been over-indulgent in dressing room matters and has been reporting it verbatim to Thakur.
“Is he (media manager) there to make things easy for us or to irritate us?” asked a senior member of Team India.
It has been brought to notice that ever since Thakur was jettisoned out of BCCI by the Supreme Court on January 2, some of the Team India players told DNA that they are wary and suspect that Arora has been reporting all the talks taking place between players inside dressing room to the ousted president.
“There is so much of mistrust between players about who is leaking our personal conversation to the outside world,” said the player.
“Media manager’s job is to deal with the media but this guy (Arora) is all over the place... inside dressing room, during team celebrations, in team discussions regarding playing eleven etc,” added the senior player.
DNA has also been told by team sources that a senior player had given Arora a “dressing down” during India’s tour of US last August for T20s against the West Indies in Fort Lauderdale (Florida), claiming he believed that media manager had tried to create a rift between him and the coach.
“It was also brought to our notice that his cousin brother, Ritesh Malik, was staying in the same team hotel in US and was seen mingling around with players in restricted zones. It was only after Arora was confronted that his cousin left the hotel after three nights,” a BCCI official said.
Arora was brought in as an executive at the president Thakur’s office in Delhi in April 2015. His company — Final Score Management Pvt Ltd — was handling the account of Himachal Pradesh CA also headed by Thakur. It was later on that he was made BCCI’s media manager. Arora only recused himself from the company when a “complaint of conflict” was made to BCCI ombudsman retired Justice AP Shah to retain his position in BCCI. But Malik is now handling the affairs of company. BCCI officials in Mumbai are aware that “Arora is still handling the social media accounts of Thakur”.
Arora denied all the charges and clarified that his cousin booked hotel in US on his own. He also denied that he is leaking dressing room information to his former president.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Anurag Thakur")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}