The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to appoint former India skipper MS Dhoni as the team’s mentor during the upcoming T20 World Cup, slated to be held in the UAE, has landed in a controversey as Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) life member Sanjeev Gupta has questioned the move.
Dhoni’s appointment as Team India’s mentor for the showpiece event was made official by BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
On Wednesday, Shah, while announcing the India squad, had said that Dhoni was keen on contributing to the senior national team and his appointment as a mentor was only for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
“Mr Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be joining Team India as mentor for the upcoming T20 World Cup. I am glad that MS has accepted BCCI’s offer and he is keen to contribute to the national team once again. MS will work closely with Mr Ravi Shastri as well as other support staff to provide support and direction to Team India,” Shah had said while announcing the India squad to the media in a virtual interaction on Wednesday.
However, Sanjeev Gupta, who seems not to be convinced about the decision, has written to all the members of the BCCI Apex Council, in the absence of an ethics officer, questioning Dhoni’s appointment.
Gupta has mentioned in his letter that the appointment was a case of conflict of interest as how can a reigning captain of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) could also be the mentor of Team India?
Meanwhile, he cited example of Rahul Dravid, who had to leave his coaching stint with Rajasthan Royals (RR) to become the director of the National Cricket Academy.
According to Gupta, the decision of the board was a gross violation of the Supreme Court norms.
The BCCI is yet to respond to Gupta’s letter.
Earlier on Wednesday, the BCCI had announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The team will be led by Virat Kohli while opener Rohit Sharma will be his deputy.
Team India will open their campaign against a blockbuster clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24.
The Men In Blue, placed in the second group 2, will next face New Zealand on October 31 at the same venue before facing Afghanistan on November 3 in Abu Dhabi.
India will then take on the two of the four qualifiers on November 5 and 8 in Dubai.
The two semifinals will be held on November 10 and November 11 with the final to be played on November 14.
Team India (Squad):
Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), K.L. Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy.
Standbyes:
Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur.