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Why Mohinder Amarnath was dropped

Unsettling comments, revolt from his own zone and hard-line attitude in selection matters are cited as reasons for his ouster.

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Around this time last year, N Srinivasan had told his colleagues that he had a very qualified candidate in mind for the north zone selector’s post. Yashpal Sharma had just finished his term and the zonal members had zeroed in on Vikram Rathour.

The new BCCI president said it would be Mohinder Amarnath.

Given Amarnath’s credentials – 69 Tests, 89 ODIs and a World Cup – he was a natural candidate to succeed Krishnamachari Srikkanth as the next chief selector. But much water has flown through the Arabian Sea in the last 12 months, and the former all-rounder, who was once known for his abilities to stand up to fiery pacers, has fallen from grace.

Theories abound on the way he has been shunted out. The BCCI officials were not too amused when he had launched a diatribe against them on Facebook. “During Rahul Dravid’s felicitation, none of the top BCCI officials were present — very sad — but cricketers from all over the country were there — cheers to Rahul and fellow cricketers,” he mentioned in his post. While the veracity of Amarnath’s remarks could be debated, the board officials did discuss his comments, some of which had also been against the IPL.

The fact that he was residing in Goa was another reason behind his ouster. “He draws Rs 40 lakh a year from the board but cannot stay in his zone,” remarked a North Zone official. It was also held that Amarnath didn’t know all the players from the zone, and yet he didn’t bother to attend the Ranji semifinal played there last season.

Those who know him well claimed he went to selection committee meetings with a ‘closed’ mind. “He was not open to new ideas,” said a north zone member. Apparently, before the recent New Zealand series he desired that Virender Sehwag should replace MS Dhoni as Test captain.

This suggestion, which wasn’t welcomed by the board officials in any case, may have been his biggest undoing. Once he lost the trust of the BCCI mandarins, he had no chance of coming back.

In the last two days, the north associations raised a collective voice against Amarnath to BCCI’s top brass. It became a convenient alibi for the board officials to give him the boot.

Another story told in the BCCI circles is that Amarnath presented the bat of his father Lala Amarnath to Cricket Australia. It is being said that he believed that Australia has a greater cricketing heritage than India. This gesture, too, didn’t go down well with the BCCI officials who felt the bat could have been donated to the Indian cricket board’s museum.

While this may not be a major issue for his expulsion, Amarnath had clearly not endeared himself to the BCCI officials.
He had once famously said that the Indian selectors “are a bunch of jokers”.This time around, he came across as a stop-gap arrangement for the BCCI for one year before a new set of selectors were put in place.
t_vijay@dnaindia.net

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