Sumit Narwal Backs Gautam Gambhir In Ugly Spat With KP Bhaskar
Mar 10, 2017 at 5:55 PM
Sumit Narwal, one of the senior players of Delhi, who also represented India A in the year 2013, has backed his senior mate Gautam Gambhir, who recently was in news for venting his anger on Delhi coach KP Bhaskar, whom he allegedly blamed for playing with the careers of youngsters like Nitish Rana and Unmukt Chand.
“I played a winning role in the Ranji match against Vidarbha, picking four wickets and had bowled long spells. In the next game, I was ill and had to rest. I came to know that Bhaskar had told the selectors that I did not want to play. I have been playing for Delhi for close to a decade and have never been accused of such an allegation.
“During the Vijay Hazare Trophy, I was asked to join the team after Pradeep Sangwan was ruled out due to injury.The DDCA had sent me the air ticket to Bhubaneswar. But I was told late night that a junior had already been called up and I need not come. My sources told me that Bhaskar had informed the selectors that I was not fit and can’t field so I shouldn’t be on the side. How can someone who has joined the side only this year make such an opinion?,” said Narwal.
Gambhir was mainly irked by the fact that Bhaskar dropped Unmukt Chand, a regular member of India A from the team. In fact, Chand led Delhi in Ranji Trophy in three games when Gautam Gambhir was on the national duty. A captaincy to Rishabh Pant also came as a surprise for the Vijay Hazare Trophy,
“Following that, selectors made some surprising change sin the squad as after failing in three games, Nitish Rana was dropped from the side as he made way for Unmukt Chand.
“When Unmukt Chand kept wickets in the T20 tournament, Bhaskar made his displeasure known. In fact, Unmukt had been keeping in T20s for the last three years and everybody could make out that Bhaskar wanted to fit in another guy. Similarly, Nitish Rana too was chucked out despite having performed well in the Duleep Trophy.
“Gautam Bhai wasn’t ready to support a player who wished to play on his own terms. So when he objected, he was simply asked to step down. Bhaskar knew that till the time Gambhir was at the helm, he wouldn’t be able to pick his favourites. Appointing Rishabh Pant as Delhi skipper instead of the senior Shikhar Dhawan was a well-calculated move as the young Pant couldn’t have said anything against Bhaskar,” Narwal added.
Vikramjit Sen, the administrator of DDCA appointed by the High Curt called Gambhir, KP Bhaskar and Shankar Singh for a meeting in Feroz Shah Kotla on Friday. Now, an independent panel will enquire into the Gambhir-Bhaskar spat and will come out with its findings soon.