Former BCCI President N Srinivasan Wanted Subramaniam Badrinath Over Virat Kohli
Oct 28, 2017 at 1:25 PM
Former Indian cricketer and ex-Chief Selector of the Indian cricket team, Dilip Vengasarkar, was the one who selected Virat Kohli in the Indian cricket team after Delhi boy’s success in junior World Cup but little is known that he had to pay the price for this.
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As per Vengasarkar, N Srinivasan, then the Treasurer and future President of BCCI, wanted Subramaniam Badrinath in the team and complained about Vengasarkar to then BCCI President Sharad Pawar regarding the same,
“When N. Srinivasan, then board treasurer and controller of Tamil Nadu cricket, found out I had dropped Badrinath for Virat, he was livid and went and complained to the board president Sharad Pawar. The next day I was removed as chairman of selectors but fortunately they couldn’t change my decision to pick Virat,” Vengsarkar was quoted as saying in the book Democracy XI.
Kohli though did not enjoy much success at the start of his career. He drew attention when he scored a century in a win against Sri Lanka in 2009 at Eden Gardens. Chasing a total of 316, India were two down for 23, and from there, Kohli added 224 runs for the third wicket with Gautam Gambhir, who played an innings of 150*. Gambhir was so impressed with Kohli that he shared his Man of the Match award with him.
Still, Kohli took his time in international cricket and attained much success after the 2011 World Cup. He was first appointed as vice-captain of Indian cricket team in 2012 for the Asia Cup and then went on to lead the side for the first time as a captain in 2013 in tri-series in West Indies.
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At present, Kohli is one of the best batsmen in limited overs cricket and captain of Indian cricket team in all the formats of the game.
On the other hand, Badrinath did not have an illustrious career. He was ignored by national selectors on many occasions, despite scoring heavily in domestic cricket. It was in 2012 when he was part of Indian team after he was called in for Test series against New Zealand as a replacement of retired VVS Laxman.
Badrinath, who now plays for Vidarbha, had decided not to play the first-class season to allow young cricketers get their much-deserved chance.
However, it can be said that Badrinath deserved a longer go at international cricket, but selectors gave the batsman rare chances to play international cricket.
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