Srinivasan springs a Sandy surprise

“I will give you all a surprise,”
N Srinivasan told his BCCI colleague when the matter about the new chairman of selectors came up for discussion a few days ago. “Don’t ask me who,” he said then. He opened his cards at the AGM on Thursday. Predictably, there was little resistance when he took Sandeep Patil’s name. “I didn’t discuss this with anyone,” he told DNA later. 

Patil is from Mumbai, but the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) had no inkling of Srinivasan’s mind. “We’re really surprised. We had no clue about it,” said an MCA official, who was pitching for Abey Kuruvilla.

Srinivasan had a discussion, but it was with Patil himself. The secret remained a secret.

Ever since the BCCI made selection a paid job, the zones lost the right to nominate candidates. The board takes the opinion of the zonal associations, but its president and office-bearers retain the veto power. That explains the appointment of Patil, a World Cup winner, who was about to complete his three-year term as director of the National Cricket Academy.

Patil always enjoyed a good equation with Srinivasan. Post-Greg Chappell, he was tipped to take over as coach of the Indian team, but with Sharad Pawar at the helm, Srinivasan did not have the final say.

Patil coached the national team briefly in 1996, but soon left shores. He was instrumental in Kenya reaching the semifinals of the 2003 World Cup.

Roger Binny was the consensus candidate down South. Saba Karim was selected from the East after four associations ganged up against Jagmohan Dalmiya to ensure that another Bengal cricketer did not become the zonal selector.

As reported by DNA, Mohinder Amarnath rubbed too many people the wrong way and there was no way he could be retained. RS Hans is the selector from Central.