Indian legend Ajit Wadekar has blasted Mumbai Cricket Association for their treatment of former players. As per norms in the Wankhede Stadium, the former cricketers are allowed to watch the match from the President’s box but in the upcoming match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 20, MCA has decided to make them sit in the stands.
The decision was not received very well by Wadekar as he expressed his anger towards the association.
“I was speaking to Nari Contractor (another ex-India captain), who too has been denied passes of the president’s box. This is this first time something like that has happened. It shows how shameless these officials, who have no regard for our contribution
to the game, are. They must realise that they’re there because of the hard work we once put in. None of them are even picking up my phone. I’ve given away my tickets to someone else. This is an insult to us, and shows how much these officials think about the
game,” a disappointed Wadekar said.
Another former cricketer also expressed his views on this decision as he said,”I don’t think Sharad Pawar (MCA president) can do something like this. I’m sure it is these officials who aren’t passing on the tickets to us.“
Trying to explain the decision, an MCA official said something which might not go down too well the former cricketers.
The official said,”the president may have decided to stop the practice of reserving tickets for former cricketers after seeing that they don’t turn up for the match eventually. Most of the time, you can only see Dilip Vengsarkar (former India skipper) there during the game.”