Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), in a dramatic move, has appointed former Test cricketer Devang Gandhi as the chairman of the state’s senior selection committee on Wednesday. And this appointment has already created a controversy as according to previous plans, exposed by CAB itself, Bengal’s former cricketer Sambaran Banerjee was supposed to take the chairman’s seat.
Banerjee, stunned by the whole incident that took place in the late evening at the CAB, has only commented that CAB president himself had promised him to appoint as the chairman of the selection committee. And it has also been learnt that Banerjee who has been selected as one of the selection committee members only may even resign from the post within next few weeks.
It has also been learnt that the key reason behind erasing Banerjee’s name as the selection committee chairman was planned after a major allegation against Banerjee by a section of top CAB officials that the former wicketkeeper of Bengal was silently encouraging the divide and rule in the senior Bengal team that created a lot of controversies very recently inside the Bengal team’s dressing room. Although Banerjee, denying all these allegations, retorted, “I have never felt such humiliated. And please ask the cricketers to know whether I encouraged any kind of dressing room politics. So, all these allegations are false.”
However, Sourav Ganguly said on the issue, “Sambaran Banerjee was already chairman of senior selection committee before. Even Arup Bhattacharya, the leg spinner from Bengal was also a selector of the Indian team from east zone before. So, there should be a rotation system. That is why Devang Gandhi has been selected as chairman this time.”