Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, October 5
A decision on considering a player outside the standby list in the city’s squad for the U-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy is not going down well with the local fraternity.
The Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA), Chandigarh, has picked up a 15-member squad for the upcoming Vinoo Mankad Trophy. However, near the team’s departure, it was found that one of the selected players was ineligible for the event. Instead of picking a player from the standby list, officials picked a player, who had attended the preparatory camp. While questions have been raised over the step, UTCA officials claimed to have done a right thing.
No wicketkeeper on the list
The dropped player, who is a wicketkeeper, had submitted wrong information. After we submitted the team with the BCCI, we were informed that he was earlier registered with Rajasthan under a different date of birth. There was no wicketkeeper in the standby list. So, we have to select someone from the camp. A senior functionary of UTCA
The officials claimed that the dropped player was a wicketkeeper and he was replaced by the player of a similar position. In the past, the UTCA officials had claimed to verify all documents before selecting players for the coaching camp. However, in this particular case, the officials got to know about the player’s ineligibility from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“Out of the 40 players selected for the camp, three were wicketkeepers. Since we think wicketkeeper should be replaced with a wicketkeeper, we picked up the player outside the standby list. The dropped player, who is a wicketkeeper, had submitted wrong information. After we submitted the team with the BCCI, we were informed that he was earlier registered with Rajasthan under a different date of birth,” said a senior functionary of the UTCA.
He said: “There was no wicketkeeper in the standby list. So, we have to select someone from the camp.”
“The officials should understand a simple thing. The standby list should have made accordingly. The main purpose of announcing a standby list is to pick players from that particular slot whenever needed,” said a senior coach.
Team departs
On Tuesday, the city team, led by coach Ravikant Sharma and captain Neel Dhaliwal, left for Dehradun to participate in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. UTCA officials Devendra Sharma, Alok Krishan, Manjit Singh and others flagged off the team from the Sector 16 cricket stadium.