Dhoni angry with national selectors over news leak

Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 22nd November, 2008 (IANS)

Controversy is synonymous with Indian cricket and so it came as no surprise to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni that he was in the midst of one.

But he was quick to turn the tables on the national selector who had revealed to the media that the Indian captain had threatened to quit when Rudra Pratap Singh was replaced by Irfan Pathan for the fourth and fifth one-dayers against the touring England side.

He was bemused by the source of the comment, asking journalists to identify the source in the interest of Indian cricket. 'It will be good for Indian cricket if we could know who leaked what was discussed in the selection committee meeting,' said Dhoni.

'I don't know where the report came from. It cannot be a report because what happens inside a meeting when the selectors, captain and coach are there should never come out. When it comes out it is disgusting and disrespectful. Things like this should not be happening. I am not saying something happened at the meeting, but over the years we have seen things being leaked from meetings and getting out in the media.

'This is the pinnacle of the sport. We are selecting 15 guys for the Indian team. There will be debates inside and that information should not be put out in the media. If it is meant to come out, then I can say we might as well have the whole meeting telecast live,' emphasized Dhoni, adding 'Nobody knows what was discussed except the eight guys in the meeting. And only they know whether it is the truth or not.'

Asked if he had spoken to the Board in this regard, he said: 'I didn't speak to the Board. I did not think it was important. There is a lot that goes around. We have an important match coming up and we chose instead to focus on that match. We were worried about the practice session as well because of the rain.'

Asked if he agreed with what has been revealed, the dapper wicketkeeper-batsman said: 'This is a selection thing and personally I don't discuss anything outside. If anything does come out, I would prefer it to be through either the BCCI, the chief selector or the group of selectors.'

Did the issue distract the team's preparation? 'To some extent it does distract us.

The good part is that we trust each other. Every player in the team trusts each other. There might be a scenario where all of a sudden we might want to get in touch with RP Singh and Irfan Pathan. It should not be a case where Rudra Pratap feels he is not wanted and left out. I will stand and defend both these players. The good thing is that they have trust in me and everything has gone off well.'

'I don't think it is the appropriate thing to happen at a point like this. We do not have players in this team with outstanding talent which can win every game. But as a team we are outstanding. These things will not break the trust we have in each other. It's important for us to be a team.'

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