We get the stick both ways, BCCI says

MUMBAI: It's tough to be in the Indian cricket board's (BCCI) shoes. Take for instance the cricket body's decision to not release six New Zealand-bound players for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals clashes that begins on Wednesday.

Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma (both Mumbai), Suresh Raina, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (both UP), Mohammed Shami (Bengal), and Stuart Binny (Karnataka) - members of India's ODI squad - will embark on the tour of NZ on January 11, a day before the five-day quarterfinals (Jan 8-12) ends.

The BCCI's call to not allow these players to play for their respective domestic sides hasn't gone down too well with the teams involved.

Venkatesh Prasad, who is coaching the UP team this season, rued the fact that Raina and Bhuvneshwar will not be part of the team that takes on a formidable side like Karnataka in Bangalore. Speaking to a website, Prasad, said, "You want the best players in the tournament to compete." The former India pacer questioned BCCI's logic to send the team a week in advance to NZ.

"They could have departed a day later. In any case they are playing their first match on January 19," Prasad was quoted as saying.

Rahul Dravid too came out in support of Prasad, telling the website, "I think there was a good opportunity and a case to allow these players to play for their teams in the Ranji quarterfinal. There is a gap of seven days before they play the first ODI (Jan 19). I am sure these six could have joined the team a day or two later."

However, the BCCI has a tough balancing act to do. "We end up getting the stick both ways. If we don't send the team early for a tour, we are blamed for being negligent and when we want to send the players early so they get acclimatized to conditions, we get criticized for not releasing the players," Prof Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI's game development officer, told TOI.

Shetty said that the dates for the Ranji Trophy games were decided in June 2013 and at that point the tour of NZ wasn't in the offing.

"It takes around 20 hours to reach Auckland. You have to factor in jet lag. Then there is also the matter of getting 25 confirmed business class tickets, which isn't easy. The Indian team will be doing some specific training and the captain and coach don't want players to miss those sessions," said Shetty.

Ex-skipper Dilip Vengsarkar too backed BCCI.

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Shweta Pandey

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