MUMBAI: The Mumbai senior team's average season so far has been hit by a controversy. Former India opener Lalchand Rajput, who is currently the chairman of the Mumbai Cricket Association's Cricket Improvement Committee, is furious after learning that some members of Mumbai's senior selection committee are allegedly “using his name while not picking players.”
"I was told by a couple of players that one of the selectors had taken my name while telling them why they had not been picked. I confronted the selection committee about it in the (recently-held) meeting of the CIC with the panel," Rajput told TOI on Saturday.
"I told them that I'm very upset about it. I have never interfered in the selection matters. The selectors should have the guts to say why they (players) have been dropped rather than taking my name or someone else’s name. When I was the MCA joint secretary many years ago, I never interfered in the selection. Selection is the sole job of the selectors. Such an incident hurts my reputation," added Rajput.
Mumbai chief selector Raju Kulkarni told this paper: “My selection committee is picking players on merit. Rajput has nothing to do with selections.
"I have known him (Rajput) for the last 45 years. Since he became the chairman of the CIC and I have been appointed as the Mumbai chief selector, he has not called me even once ‘unofficially’ to discuss Mumbai cricket. So we have never discussed Mumbai cricket outside our official meetings. We’ve discussed Mumbai cricket only in CIC meetings,” said Kulkarni.
