Vengsarkar is lying, claims Srinivasan

CHENNAI: Former BCCI president N Srinivasan rejected Dilip Vengsarkar’s claims that he was responsible for the ex-India captain’s removal as chairman of selectors, calling the charge “completely false, motivated and without any basis”.

Vengsarkar had claimed that he lost his job as chairman of selectors for picking Virat Kohli over Tamil Nadu’s domestic heavyweight S Badrinath in 2008, courtesy the then BCCI treasurer Srinivasan.

“On whose behalf he is talking? What is his motive? Whatever it is, it is not fact. When a cricketer talks like this it is not good. His remark that I interfered in his not continuing is not a fact all. What is the point in saying it now?,” Srinivasan told reporters here.

“I didn’t interfere in selection matters. What is the interference he is talking of?,” Srinivasan questioned.

“It has been brought to my attention through certain media reports that Dilip Vengsarkar, former Indian national cricketer has made some statements regarding me to the effect that his tenure as chairman of BCCI National Selection Committee was cut short by me because I did not agree with a particular decision of his in 2008,” he further said.

Srinivasan said he did not have any animosity towards Vengsarkar and added the Mumbai player had been a beneficiary of schemes initiated by him.

“I have no animosity towards Dilip Vengsarkar, who himself was a beneficiary of the schemes initiated by me. India Cements in 1994, contributed ~ 1 lakh for his benefit match.

“I have respected him as a cricketer and we treated him as a national hero. I am sorry that he talks like this,” Srinivasan said.