Bansal removed, Chauhan named interim president, CK Khanna to represent DDCA at BCCI

On Tuesday night, the executive committee of the Delhi and District Cricket Association had gathered at the Ferozeshah Kotla to remove SP Bansal, the president of the DDCA. The meeting was to start at 6 pm. What followed was complete chaos where the umpires, the sports committee members as well as the scorers gathered and created ruckus over non-payment of their dues. They have not got their dues for quite a few months and the DDCA league also has been stalled this fortnight.

The executive members then met with Bansal and the meeting was adjourned. The meeting was then taken to Vikram Hotel near Moolchand. Bansal says that when he reached there, no one was there and it was learnt that the meeting took place at the Kotla only. Fourteen out of 24 members decided to vote against Bansal, allegedly for corruption issues.  “Bansal had asked general secretary Anil Khanna to transfer a sum of rupees 1.55 crore to three different companies. Then when the matter was brought to light, he transferred it back to the DDCA,” DDCA treasurer Ravinder Manchanda told reporters.

“I was kept in the dark. I didn’t know anything. I was elected as treasurer on December 31, 2013. I realised that the president had the authority to sign amounts without even asking the treasurer for it. Three different sums totalling 1.55 crore of rupees were transferred to different companies through RTGS in January,” said Manchanda.

However, once the issue was raised by Kirti Azad and he sent out mails regarding this, the money was returned to the DDCA by March-end.

“We think the money would not have been returned had this not come to light and the movement of money without the permission is illegal,” said Manchanda. “Incidentally, the minutes of the meeting where the statement of general secretary, Anil Khanna, who said he transferred the money at the behest of Bansal, disappeared from the accounts office,” Manchanda added at a press conference at the Kotla on Wednesday.

Chetan Chauhan, the vice-president, who has been elected as the interim president by the executive committee, said that there have been discrepancies in other things like officials going out of station in first class which will be looked into. Manchanda says he is studying papers and will look into the matter.

Manchanda also pointed out that Bansal had given three different statements. “Firstly, he said that the money was sent to the BCCI. When BCCI said they have not got any money from DDCA, we asked him again in the next meeting. But he said that the DDCA money was being invested. If that was so, where were the returns. Then, he pointed out that it was given to three companies and then it was returned,” said Manchanda.

A letter by the treasurer and signed by other members has been sent to the BCCI where it puts the blame on Bansal. The letter reads, “However, the second signatory, Sh Anil Khanna, Hony Gen. Secretary, Sh Anil Khanna, informed the House that he was made to sign the necessary instructions for disbursement of that amount through RTGS by Sh. SP Bansal, President of DDCA on the pretext that this amount was to be paid in furtherance to the directions issued by BCCI. Mr Anil Khanna also claimed his innocence in the matter.” It then says that the decision to remove the President was taken after Anil Khanna’s confession.

While Bansal will remain the vice-president of the BCCI and will attend the board meetings in that capacity, vice-president CK Khanna appears to have gained something. He will represent DDCA in the BCCI meetings instead of others sent by Bansal. The annual general meeting of the BCCI is on January 31.

There has been a lot of issues with the Delhi team and its selection panels too. “Proper procedure was not followed while putting up selection panels,” said interim president Chetan Chauhan. Yahspal Sharma was appointed amidst lots of controversy and there have been pressures from different quarters. “All that will be put to good purpose.”

However, SP Bansal said that the charges are false and he will prove it. “I will read the papers and allegations and then talk with the other officials. They held the meeting illegally. They told me that they will hold it in Vikram Hotel and when I reached, I didn’t find anyone there and I learnt later that they were holding a meeting at the Kotla even though the meeting had been adjourned earlier,” he said. “All these charges are false and I continue to be the president.”

Following the ruckus on Tuesday, the DDCA has banned members Naresh Sharma, Anil Mishra, Tirkha, Maqsood Kareem and Haider for misbehaving and creating a scene.

Analysing Delhi Ranji team

The Delhi team that has been selected for the first Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra contains no surprises. Ashish Nehra has gone a step further and rested himself even at the start of the season. Nehra played in the Vijay Hazare one-dayers in Himachal Pradesh and was below par in helpful conditions. In previous seasons he has refrained from playing two back-to-back Ranji matches as his body doesn’t allow it. But this resting at the start of the season without even getting your body taxed is a new thing. Any updates on his fitness. We know that he is harbouring World Cup hopes and it is strange that he feels he can last the entire high pressure world cup despite his fragile body.
The other major inclusion is of Pradeep Sangwan. Sangi, the left-arm seamer, is coming off a doping ban. He is a handy seamer but only handy. He can’t go all the way and deliver really quick stuff and if the wicket is less supportive, he can be no good. But he is still included thanks to his experience and also some backing from Virender Sehwag, who rates him high. Sangi said that he has worked a lot hard on his fitness. How much, only time and his performance will tell. To start with, he has a good place to start with --- the Roshanara Club grounds, which are very supportive for seamers.
The news also is that Mithun Manhas is injured. And he has been replaced by Himmat Singh, the U-19 Delhi skipper who is apparently rated highly by everyone, including chief selector Yashpal Singh. Himmat has two fifties and one big century against Tripura in the Cooch Behar Trophy. He is one for the future but will he get to play in a star-studded line-up and will he perform on a testing Roshanara wicket remains to be seen.
Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Unmukt Chand will be the cynosure of all eyes despite their failure in the Vijay Hazare one-dayers. Sehwag says he still harbours world cup hopes. Well, he better prove to really catch a flight down to Australia. There is a feeling that he doesn’t stand a chance as he squandered the last remaining opportunity in the domestic one-dayers and he opted out of the zonal one-dayers, the Deodhar Trophy. But a couple blistering, big knocks in Ranji may help him as he is a big name. Gambhir too has been struggling. He is getting a bit more runs that Viru paaji but Gauti looks ungainly and is not inspiring confidence these days. He too may have to really dig deep. He wants a result, has taken a risk by opting for the tough Roshanara Club grounds for a result, but it’ll be tough work for him as a batsman. Unmukt comes up with gems but not when he is playing for Delhi. This has irked the selection panel, which even asked coach Vijay Dahiya if there is a need to replace him. But Unmukt, it seems has become a brand, big and promising enough for Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to let him go for Deodhar instead of them and for national selector Vikram Rathour to back him.
Puneet Bisht, despite some below average showings, retains his spot while Rajat Bhatia, the only player who has consistently produced performances will again hold the key.
Navdeep Saini, Gambhir-backed lad, will again be part of the pace attack, along with his close friend Sumit Narwal, Pradeep Sangwan and hard-working Parvinder Awana.

 

Yashpal takes back resignation, claims Dev

On Wednesday, DDCA sports secretary circulated a letter saying that Yashpal Sharma has agreed to take back his resignation and continue in his capacity as the chief selector of Delhi team. Yashpal had quit after differences over selection matters and some ego issues that afflicted senior players. It seems that some sort of assurances have been given to Yashpal before he agreed. Dev and the new sports committee are seemingly not that keen in having Chetan Chauhan back as the chairman.

Yashpal quits as chief selector after Delhi crash out of Vijay Hazare knockouts

Delhi has disappointed once again. Despite the presence of so many stars, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra and Unmukt Chand, the fancied team barely qualified for the Vijay Hazare national one-dayers knockouts and then lost to Mumbai. The loss was hard enough on chief selector Yashpal Sharma, who quit from his post all of a sudden.
While DDCA president Sneh Bansal says Yashpal had prior personal commitments, the reality is far from that. Yashpal was pressured into selecting players he did not want from some DDCA officials as well as the sports committee, according to sources.
One of the officials said that Gambhir was given the side of his choice and he didn’t want any changes even when they were losing badly.
Former Delhi cricketer and junior selector Narendra Negi took out the ire on facebook, saying, “This had to happen. Players who have scored runs and taken wickets were not even picked in the squad.”
There were demands to put Shelly Shaurya, Aditya Kaushik, Pratyush Singh and Kshitiz Sharma in the team for the final games of league phase which Yashpal was avoiding. He even thought of bringing in U-19 captain Himmat Singh into the side. Himmat has been scoring runs and made 181 in the victory over Tripura in Cooch Behar Trophy.
Apart from that Yashpal seemed to have been fed up with the constant bickering in the Delhi team. All the seniors were hell bent on playing. Only upon the threat of not getting selected in the North Zone side for Deodhar Trophy side, did Sehwag and Gambhir decide to stay away and let Unmukt Chand play. Chand too hasn’t been doing any good for Delhi. But national selector Vikram Rathour wanted him in the North Zone as he considers his talent valuable.
Gambhir and Sehwag also seem to be having clash of egos. Gambhir has been backing Sumit Narwal while Sehwag wants Pradeep Sangwan. The selectors say that they can’t simply draft in Sangwan as he has just returned from doping ban. One of the officials asked, “Is there no pace bowler in Delhi that can replace these oldies?”
There are plenty but nobody is thinking over that.
“Those who have helped bring in the proxies during the elections are bound to have a sy in selection,” says a senior official.
As far as latest reports are to be believed, Chetan Chauhan may return as the chairman of selectors. But the fact is that Delhi are in huge turmoil and the seniors are not helping.

Unimpressive Delhi manage to qualify for knockouts

It eventually had to boil down to the wire with Delhi and Punjab barely making it to the knockouts of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Delhi were in a must-win situation in their last two games, against Haryana and Services and they just managed to scrape past both their opponents to make it through. For one of the richest associations, the sight of losing to Jammu and Kashmir and then to Himachal Pradesh was a disappointing one.
More importantly, both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir didn’t look god enough. Both did click in the all-important game against Haryana, Sehwag cracking a 68-ball 80 while Gambhir making a steady 93 but they lacked consistency. Worse was Ashish Nehra, who seems to be getting less inspiring as the years go by. He has had fitness issues and here he didn’t do really well.
On tracks which supported bowlers, the failure of batsmen was fine but what about Nehra, the ace swing, who according to a leading newspaper is in reckoning for World Cup. His proximity to captain Dhoni, thanks to Nehra’s association with Chennai Super Kings, may be the driving factor in this speculation but with him not able to do much for his state side is certainly putting question marks on his utility for Delhi. There are people from the previous sports committee saying that we don’t need Nehra at all. “Feed in younger bowlers,” said a committe spokesperson.  
Match 4: Haryana 247 all out in 50 overs (S Rana 71, V Tokas 4/41) lost to Delhi 251/7 in 42.1 overs (G Gambhir 93, V Sehwag 80, Joginder Sharma 4/27)
Match 5: Services 146 all out in 40.1 overs (Vikas Tokas 4/43) lost to Delhi 148/7 in 34.4 overs (R Bhatia 34, G Gambhir 4, V Sehwag 20)

Vikas Dixit stars as Delhi beat Saurashtra

Off-spinner Vikas Dixit, who came into limelight after a 10-wicket haul in the DDCA league match a couple of seasons back, helped Delhi U-19 beat Saurashtra by eight wickets in the Cooch Behar U-19 match at Rajkot. The win puts Delhi colts, who became the North Zone one-day champions this year, in a strong position and favourites in the group. They had earlier beaten Kerala.

Dixit made 92 while Jonty Sidhu scored 97 as Delhi were all out for 355 in first innings. Rajesh Sharma made 52 while Rishabh Pant scored 50. Dixit then took 7/74 as Saurashtra were bundled out for 192. Following on, hosts Saurashtra could make only 313 runs with Samarth Vyas scoring 74 and Priyajit Chudasama 56. Sagar Malik took 6/77. Delhi, needing 151, romped home with eight wickets to spare. Rishabh Pant made 77 not out while Sarthak Ranjan scored 65.

Delhi 355 (Jonty Sidhu 97, Vikas Dixit 92, Rajesh Sharma 52, Rishabh Pant 50) and 154/2 (Rishabh Pant 77*, Sarthak Ranjan 65) beat Saurashtra 192 (Vikas Dixit 7/74) and 313 Samarh Vyas 74, Priyajit Chudasama 56, Sagar Malik 6/77)

 

Delhi lose to Himachal, may crash out

The start of the domestic season has been disastrous for Delhi. On Monday, they suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Himachal Pradesh. It is a loss that has put their qualification chances in jeopardy.
They lost to Jammu and Kashmir in the first game before beating Punjab in the second game. This latest loss has put them on the backfoot. Surprisingly, Delhi has all the firepower with their star-studded line-up. But none of it has come good.
Gautam Gambhir fell in early 20s again while Virender Sehwag and Unmukt Chand both made 11. Paceman Ashish Nehra, despite getting a seamer-friendly track, went for 68 in his 10 overs. It was a poor show by Nehra, going for 6.8, when the Himachal run-rate was well below 5.
Delhi will need to win their last two games, against Services and Haryana, to have any chances of making it to the knockout phase.
Himachal Pradesh 244/6 in 50 overs (Raghav Dhawan 89, Rishi Dhawan 41, R Bhatia 3/42) beat Delhi 231 in 50 overs (Milind Kumar 69, Rajat Bhatia 34, Raghav Dhawan 3/47)

Delhi beat Punjab to stay alive in Vijay Hazare

With former India stars waning, the crowd at Nadaun in Himachal Pradesh that had gathered to see them were in for disappointment on Saturday. Virender Sehwag flopped while Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir too couldn’t get going as Delhi beat Punjab in their second match of the North Zone one-day league of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Punjab were restricted to 182/6 in 45 overs as Sumit Narwal picked three wickets for 23 runs. Yuvi could make just 15 in 34 balls with two boundaries. It was a tough wicket to bat on. In reply, Delhi 188/6 in 44 overs but not without early jitters. Sehwag, opening the innings, fell for a duck while Gambhir could make just 22. It was left to Rajat Bhatia once again. He made unbeaten 58 while Puneet Bisht scored 30 as a 51-run partnership between the two brought Delhi out of a hole.
The win came as a relief for Delhi who were criticised after losing their first match to J&K. Former Delhi and India player Surinder Khanna lamented the loss by sending out his trademark SMS and hitting out at the sports committee.
The win over Punjab brings Delhi back and opens up the league. J&K have surprisingly won both their matches. Punjab have lost both. It will be interesting to see how things pan out in the next few days. One thing is for sure, this North Zone league will go down to the wire.
Punjab 182/6 in 45 overs (T Kohli 50, Gurkeerat 47, S Narwal 3/23) lost to Delhi 188/6 in 44 overs (R Bhatia 58*, P Bisht 30, Amitoze 3/23)

Delhi lose to Jammu and Kashmir in Vijay Hazare

So Yashpal Sharma’s elevation to the chairmanship of the Delhi selection committee didn’t have the desired effect. Yashpal, who replaced Chetan Chauhan, oversaw the selection of a team that was full of oldies. All the Delhi stars, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand flopped as Delhi crashed to a two-wicket defeat against lowly Jammu and Kashmir in the first match of the North Zone one-day league for Vijay Hazare Trophy being played at Himachal Pradesh.

Jammu and Kashmir, who were troubled by the recent floods and had to shift preparations to Mohali, skittled out Delhi for 212. From 59/0, Samiullah Beigh made it 73/3 removing the top 3. Only half-centuries from Milind Kumar and Rajat Bhatia helped them get past 200. It was not enough as Parvez Rasool and then Beigh took them past the Delhi total. With Sehwag not showing any great form and Gambhir only coming up with occasional performances, the pressure is on them to perform.

Delhi 212 (Milind Kumar 61, Rajat Bhatia 50, S Beigh 3/35) lost to J&K 216/8 (Parvez Rasool 74, P Awana 3/40)

 

Delhi get three points over Kerala in U-19

Captain Himmat Singh’s 50, Rajesh Sharma’s 61 and Kunwar Biduri’s 70 helped Delhi beat Kerala via first innings lead and get three points in the Cooch Behar U-19 cricket tournament. Delhi had made 283 in the first innings to which Kerala replied with just 223.
Delhi 283 & 312 vs Kerala 223

Parents get worked up, want to sue NCT

When the Delhi Under-19 team was announced ahead of the zonal one-dayers recently, Bishan Singh Bedi expressed disgust at some of the selections. In a letter dated October 1, he lashed out at seven selections calling them a result of proxies and influential people. He named Suryansh Tyagi, Utkarsh Singh, Viren Singh, Tejas Broca, Karan Bidhuri, Arjun Khanna and Ishan Kantewala as those undeserving and forced into the team for the Vinoo Mankad games.

Well, it wasn’t exactly wrong criticism. The Delhi team management didn’t play all of them and of those that played, one or two did come up with important knocks. Irrespective of the criticism, the team went to win the North Zone league which was largely thanks to efforts of vice-captain and dashing batsman Himmat Singh who hammered two back to back hundreds and got a half-century as well.

There is no doubt that Himmat is one of the best talents around and the selectors, rightly it seems pushed the Modernite’s name for captaincy for the days’ version --- the Cooch Behar Trophy. Quite a few of the names mentioned above are in the U-19 team, and their parents have reportedly threatened to sue the officials of NCT (the body formed by Bedi & Co for fighting the ills in DDCA) if they continue to malign the names. An official with the current sports committee confided that the parents are ready to sue the officials if they don’t stop spilling the beans.

 

With elections around, frustration over non-payment hits top gear

As elections to the DDCA Sports Committee near, there is a lot of tension building up. For those who may not know, then here is a fresh take on the old issue that keeps cropping up time and again. With the season coming to an end, umpires officiating at the DDCA league matches are getting nothing and neither is anything being paid to curators. An umpire recently told Delhi Cricket that many people are planning to leave the job because they are not getting the money due to them.

Two reports this year, one in the Hindustan Times which touched upon the point that the groundsmen are not getting anything and therefore chief curator Venkat Sundaram had quit and another in The Hindu which talked about non-payment to umpires, have brought the issue to light.

At the heart of this controversy is a clause in the Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, under which the DDCA has been constituted. It disallows payment to the members. In this case, many officials, including umpires, curators, coaches and selectors are ineligible to be paid as they also happen to be members.

Sunil Dev, the sports secretary, is reportedly not signing cheques that are due to umpires. Sports Committee officials, including chairman, Ahmad Tameem has made their displeasure known. However, Dev denies it and says he is willing to sign them. “I have no problems and I am ready to sign,” he says.

Speaking on the issue, DDCA president Sneh Bansal clarified to Delhi Cricket, “Who says Sunil Dev is not signing the cheques. He is ready to do so. It is just that a clause doesn’t allow payments to members. Now, if we release cheques to the non-members, won’t the members feel bad? We have written to the ministry of corporate affairs and are awaiting their reply. If they give the go-ahead then we would make payments, otherwise we’ll think of a solution.”

That Arun Jaitley is the Union Finance Minister may just help DDCA’s cause a bit and it would be a relief to many who are sweating it out in scorching summer.

In the case of no permission, the likely solution is that non-members will be paid the money as fees while members will be paid under the head ‘expenses’.

However, the current Sports Committee, which has decided to change a lot of things, is getting edgy. They want the payments to be made before the elections take place (in July) and therefore are not blamed for the impasse.

Passi inducted, blackmail in DDCA continues

As this sports committee’s tenure comes to an end, there is a look of desperation on a lot of faces. On Sunday, the day the team for National T20 knockouts was announced, the father of Saurabh Passi reportedly broke the glass panel of the bar at the Ferozeshah Kotla in rage. His lament was that his son hasn’t been picked in the side for the T20 knockouts that are now taking place in West Zone.

The sports committee members hauled up the chairman of selectors, Chetan Chauhan, and also another selector. On Wednesday, a release from the sports committee boss Ahmed Tameem said that Passi has been included. The issue goes on to show how the current committee is being exploited by people who provided it with support. In such an instance can Delhi cricket prosper.

Also, the Delhi state team that is playing in Mumbai and lost its first two games to weak teams is a depleted squad. The top players have joined their IPL teams’ camps and have therefore excused themselves from the National T20s from Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. As Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir, who has joined the KKR camp, recently put it, “It is the BCCI that has to think about rescheduling it.”

Well, the BCCI had already rescheduled it once before and now they have to do it again. It seems the board has too much cricket on its plate.

Questions over selection panel, Sehwag considered for Delhi captaincy

One of the mysteries of Delhi cricket this year has been the Under-25 team which crashed out of the championships thanks to some ordinary selection policies. Sanjay Srivastava had allegedly held the sports committee team to ransom, and apparently got his way to have his son Shelly Shaurya installed as the Delhi U-25 skipper.

The team crashed out quite early and not without controversies. The chairman of the Under-25 selection panel, NP Singh was abused by a former Delhi cricketer after senior cricketer Yogesh Nagar was left out of the team. It created such a furore that DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan had to go to the then DDCA president, Arun Jaitley, to apprise him of the controversy. It has been learnt that he also requested him to change the panel, especially remove NP Singh who is considered to be very close to the current sports committee.

Quite surprisingly, NP is now sitting along with Chetan Chauhan in the senior selection committee as one of the decision makers for Delhi’s limited overs team that is to play in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s as well as Vijay Hazare one-dayers later this month.

The sports committee had decided to change the selection senior panel after the poor performance in Ranji Trophy and only chairman Chetan Chauhan survived.

The probables for the games will be announced on Friday evening and a lot of fireworks are expected to take place in the DDCA.

Of much interest will be the announcement of the Delhi skipper. It has been learnt that the selection committee, pressed by the sports committee, is likely to install Virender Sehwag as the captain of the limited overs team, replacing Gautam Gambhir who was the skipper in the longer format of Delhi during this domestic season. If it happens, it won’t be without a lot of debate. 

 

 

 

Delhi selection commitee changed, Gidwani back

In what could be a last-ditch effort by the current Sports Committee to save face, the selection panel has been completely overhauled ahead of the one-dayers and T20 games. Only Chetan Chauhan, the chairman of selectors retains his post while the other four, including former Vivek Razdan, have been replaced by Hari Gidwani, Varun Kumar, NP Singh and Anil Jain. Sports secretary Sunil Dev will continue to be the convenor. The Delhi team’s pathetic show left a lot to be desired. Inspite of having players like Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Ashish Nehra, the team failed to make it to the knockouts. In fact, there had been discussions for a long time to bring about changes. One wonders though, if just changing the selection panel alone will bring Delhi some luck. The Sports Committee met on Monday evening to discuss the matter and subsequently the change was made. “We want to start afresh and do well in limited overs format,” said a member of the sports committee.

New selection panel: Chetan Chauhan (chairman), Varun Kumar, NP Singh, Anil Jain and Hari Gidwani

 

How DDCA can't pay their members as per Companies Act

A few weeks back, it came to light that Virat Kohli’s mentor Rajkumar Sharma was threatening to quit from his post of state’s U-19 coach.

Sharma, who headed Delhi’s only successful team at the national level this year – the U-19 team made the semifinals while other state teams faltered, rubbished it later but the news spread like wildfire and disconcerted quite a few officials.

True or not, talks like these have been gaining ground.

And what is making such disillusionment among coaches and other staff members popular is the law under which the Delhi and District Cricket Association lies. The Section 25 of the Companies Act under which DDCA (and even Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh bodies) are registered cannot pay their members if they use their services.

“Since cricket is a professional sport and requires a lot of skill and training, very often we have to turn to our former players who are also the members of the association. The problem occurs as we cannot pay them other than out of pocket expenses or other minimal expenses,” says DDCA president Sneh Bansal, who replaced Arun Jaitely as the head of the body. “It is futile if we import coaches as they’ll ask for a lot of money.”

The only way they can make salary payments is through a special application to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

“We have filed an application and are awaiting the permission. Whatever the government says, we’ll abide by it,” says Bansal.

In fact, vice-president Chetan Chauhan is getting only 2 to 2.5 lakh per annum, for his expenses only. It is well below the standard salaries.

Just recently, the minister of state for the MCA was posed a question in a Parliament session as to whether the ministry is taking any action regarding the flouting of rules, apparently regarding the payment of salaries. The minister replied yes, admitting that action has been taken.

The top bosses in DDCA say they have already paid the fine and they paid to their members as it was the prevailing system and ‘it was being followed for over 50 years’.

“We have paid fines and now changed the system and are looking for permission,” said a senior official.