Last Update on: June 25th, 2020 at 12:35 pm
Dilip Vengsarkar, former Indian batsman, had lambasted the Mumbai Cricket Association [MCA] for its lethargic approach in the appointment of coaches and selectors for the upcoming season.
The development comes after domestic stalwart Wasim Jaffer was appointed the head coach of the Uttarakhand state team.
The MCA is yet to name the Cricket Improvement Committee [CIC] which is responsible for all these recruitments. According to the constitution, the CIC is appointed by the Annual General Meeting [AGM].
Jaffer had reckoned that he would have preferred coaching his home team but was never approached by the MCA.
“If they had approached me, I’d have thought about it. I’m not saying I would have taken it 100%, but I would have liked to do it. However, I’d have wanted some say in the selection also. If they had given me some authority, I’d have loved to coach my home team first. Who doesn’t want to coach Mumbai? Probably, they had someone else in mind, which I understand,” Wasim Jaffer said.
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“It’s time the Apex council of MCA wakes up from its deep slumber”- Dilip Vengsarkar
On Wednesday, Dilip Vengsarkar, who has served as the vice-president of the MCA between 2001-16 called for the association to ‘wake up from its deep slumber’, lambasting it for not taking key decisions during the lockdown period.
“It’s time the Apex council of MCA wakes up from its deep slumber and appoints the various cricketing committees before it’s too late. As things stand, MCA has already lost the golden opportunities to connect with the likes of Chandrakant Pandit and Wasim Jaffer who have already been snapped up and would be coaching Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand respectively,” Dilip Vengsarkar told Times of India.
“It seems to me that the newly elected Apex council hasn’t yet understood the urgency to appoint competent coaches for the various age group teams besides the senior Mumbai team and to plan future programs for them, unless, of course, they have already zeroed in on the coaches from outside Mumbai. Or else, the thinking could be: ‘What’s the hurry when the BCCI is yet to announce the dates of the fixtures,’” Dilip Vengsarkar added.
The former Indian captain urged the MCA to act with urgency on the matter.
“To be fair, isn’t it the MCA’s duty to give enough time to coaches, selectors, trainers, and other support staff to prepare for the season? Come on guys, for the sake of Mumbai cricket, wake up and put on your thinking caps, for almost all the associations have already started the process a few weeks ago,” he said.
The MCA officials, however, have maintained that they would like to stick to the constitution while electing the coached and selectors for the upcoming season.
“We would have loved to have Wasim as our coach. However, due to constitutional constraints, we can’t appoint a coach unless we appoint a Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) through the Annual General Meeting (AGM). We wouldn’t like to take shortcuts from the constitution. We would like to follow the constitution to the T. We would always like to take the calls of the General Body as per the constitution,” said MCA Secretary Sanjay Naik.
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