New Delhi: Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund returned to the Test squad after a gap of more than five years, but his comeback was overshadowed by the high drama that delayed the selection committee meeting here by nearly six hours.
Scheduled to start at noon at a five-star facility in the capital, the meeting finally began at 6pm, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri conducting it through a teleconference from Mumbai.
Johri came into the picture after BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary, who was supposed to convene the meeting as per the BCCI rules, was told to stay away by Vinod Rai, the chief of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA).
This is the second time the senior cricket official from Jharkhand was stopped from attending a selection meeting. Earlier this month in Mumbai, Choudhary was replaced by Johri, following instructions from the Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha committee, before the selectors picked the ODI and T20I squads for the England series.
Choudhary was kept out of the meeting by the COA, which felt he was ineligible to attend. The sudden decision by the newly-appointed COA left the entire schedule topsy-turvy and the meeting could only start at six in the evening.
Till Tuesday morning, no one had a clue about COA's possible intervention in the meeting. So much so, Choudhary informed the waiting media that the chairman of the selection committee, MSK Prasad, would hold a press conference in the afternoon.
Sources said that one of the officials in the Justice Lodha committee came to know about the meeting and promptly informed the COA, pointing out the Board joint secretary was not eligible to attend, leave alone convening it. The COA, in turn, told the Board CEO to refrain Choudhary from convening the meeting.
MV Sridhar, the general manager (cricket operations) of the BCCI, said the selection meeting would begin at 6pm under Johri. Asked how the CEO got into the picture, Sridhar said he was in no position to throw any light on the issue.
Though no official explanation was available, the development on Tuesday, it was believed, was the direct fallout of the Supreme Court's order on Monday. While passing the order, the court said: "The CEO of BCCI shall report to the Committee of Administrators and the Administrators shall supervise the management of BCCI."
Back to cricket, the selectors recalled Mukund, who played his last Test in August 2011, in the squad for the one-off Test against Bangladesh in Hyderabad.
Mukund's current form has certainly impressed the selectors. The opening batsman scored more than 800 runs with four centuries in the Ranji Trophy this season. Mukund has replaced Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan in the squad.
Bengal's Wriddhiman Saha, who was forced to stay away from the team midway through the England series because of an injury in his left thigh, has regained his spot. The wicketkeeper-batsman is in roaring form - his recent double century in the Irani Cup fixture against Ranji champions Gujarat is testimony to his batting prowess.
Parthiv, without doubt, played an important role with the bat in the Tests versus England apart from scoring a match-winning century to hand Gujarat their maiden Ranji Trophy title earlier this month. But that just wasn't enough for him to leapfrog Saha, who injured his left thigh during the Visakhapatnam Test versus England, and occupy the No. 1 'keeper-batsman's slot.
