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| Kieron Pollard and Virender Sehwag at Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday before boarding the flight to Vishakapatnam for the second ODI. (PTI) |
Bhubaneswar, Nov. 30: Odisha governor M.C. Bhandare’s office is reported to be unhappy with the way he was treated at the presentation ceremony after the India-West Indies ODI at Barabati Stadium yesterday.
Sources said the governor was up set that Biju Janata Dal leader and Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra appeared to take precedence over him by being asked to present a memento to winning captain Virender Sehwag while Bhandare had to be content with awarding a souvenir to Darren Sammy, the losing captain.
Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) secretary Ashirbad Behera has been called to Raj Bhavan on December 5 apparently to explain the glitches during the presentation ceremony, said sources.
Sources said the governor was also unhappy with the alleged cavalier attitude of some of the Indian players during the presentation ceremony.
“After giving away that one award, the governor was sidelined and the title sponsors and OCA members took over. He put his hand forward three times to greet the Indian players but they appeared to be looking the other way. Sehwag shook hands with him only on the third attempt,” said a source at Raj Bhavan.
On his part, the OCA secretary said they had invited Bhandare only to watch the match and there was no concept of a “chief guest” or “guest of honour” for the presentation ceremony.
“According to the guidelines set by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), only the man of the match award is to be given by a representative of the title sponsors at the end of each match, unless it is the last match of the series. It was decided on the spot that we would ask the governor and Pyari Mohan Mohapatra to give away the mementos. The sports minister (Badri Narayan Patra) was also present but he did not give away any award or memento,” said Behera.
He added that the OCA had reserved a special seat for the governor in the BCCI box and attended to him during the match. “Some people are provoking the governor and trying to blow this issue out of proportion. I will meet him next Monday and sort out the misunderstanding,” he said.
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