In a letter addressed to Committee of Administrators (CoA) chairman Vinod Rai and acting BCCI secretary Amitabh Chaudhary, all three members of the Cricket advisory Committee (CAC) expressed their pain and anguish over their intentions being questioned by certain sections of the media, regarding the appointment of the head coach.
THE WEEK is in possession of that letter. Signed by Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman in that order, it said, "you will be well aware that we put our heart and soul into the process, approaching a task made delicate by the recent developments with a clear head and with the sole aim of providing the Indian team with the best resources possible to become the world beaters they are capable of being."
"It has both pained and disappointed us therefore to see the light in which CAC has been portrayed in various sections of the media."
Giving full details of how the decisions were arrived at, they lashed out at the impression that Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan’s appointment as consultants was a decision foisted upon Ravi Shastri. The letter said, "there have been suggestions that the CAC has exceeded its ambit in going with Khan and Dravid and that these two legends of Indian cricket have been foisted on the head coach. We also bring to your notice the email you had circulated to us saying that we had absolutely free hand in picking the coach of the Indian team. ……as we have outlined that is not the case and it is imperative that the cricket loving public at large is made aware of reality. We could do it ourselves but we don’t want to further queer the pitch. So we would respectfully request you to clear the air and set the record straight in this regard…… The three of us have played our cricket with great integrity and we have brought this trait in fulfilling this important responsibility.”
The letter also reiterated that Ravi Shastri was consulted before the appointment of the two consultants. And said in the letter, "he readily agreed to the idea of having them in the set up so that it would benefit the team and Indian cricket as a whole in time to come."
It ended with, "while we are not looking for plaudits we do not appreciate the tone and falsehoods of some of the narratives."
The BCCI as well as COA then issued a press release echoing the same.
