Hit by controversies, now UPCA to conduct probe
LUCKNOW: With a series of controversies rocking the cricket body in last few months, all seems to be not well in the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association.
It all started with a few senior officials in the UPCA headquarters at Kanpur facing police action and some junior selectors/coaches been charged with seeking money for selection, the latest controversy to have hit the UPCA is related to allegations against the selection committee members in the women’s cricket.
Last month, a parent had lodged an official complaint to the Kanpur police, accusing some of the junior selectors, coaches, officials and even a former official of the UPCA for duping him several lakh rupees on the name of playing his son. The application is yet to be converted into an FIR.
While terming the allegations as baseless, a coach and a selector of the junior panel went on lodging counter FIRs against the parent, and all such incidents have made the UPCA bosses worried about the portraying of ‘bad image’ of the cricketing body on all social networks, including Facebook, Youtube and even Whatsapp.
“It seems to be an organize attempt to malign the image of the UPCA and its officials. I don’t know why this is happening, but one thing is sure that we have a free and fair selection system in place and there is no compromise with the selection of players in all the teams,” UPCA’s secretary Yudhveer Singh said on Friday. “I have asked for all the details in which a girl cricketer from Muzzafarnagar has accused selectors, officials for some reasons. So far I have no knowledge about the incident, but for sure the UPCA would be conducting an internal inquiry in the issue,” he said.
As far as the accusation of the girl cricketer is concerned, she in her letter to the Muzzafarnagar’s district magistrate has blamed one of the former India cricketer for ending her cricketing career by ‘forcefully’ not selecting her even though she did well at the trials and have been part of the side in the past too. “I have been going through a serious mental trauma as I am seeing my cricket career is getting ended. Neither I am not getting proper sleep nor I am able to take proper food and I am heading towards depression. If I commit suicide one day, the officials like ‘RD’ and ‘MP’ should be held responsible,” she writes in her letter (in possession of HT).
Interestingly, the girl has made all her conversations (all in possession of HT) with the UPCA officials, especially senior women selector, viral on all social sites, including TV. “I have all the rights to question my non-selection in the team as I have been playing cricket for the state for the last many years and doing well. But here the woman selector wants me not to question her method of selection. She (selector) even challenged me to go and lodge a complaint with the authorities concerned (UPCA bosses). Did I do something wrong by asking questions?” the girl cricketer told HT.
“When I called one of the UPCA officials, he told me that such things (bad selection system) have been part of the system in the cricketing body and many cricketers come from the top to play in the team,” she said, adding, “If this remains the system in the UP cricket then why the next generation should think of playing cricket in future for the state.” The case in junior men selection also brought many interesting things to the fore as the father of a young cricketer in his complaints, including some voice recordings (all in possession of HT), accused a senior selector for duping him of money. But while going through the recordings the voices reportedly found ‘fake’ or of somebody else’s, says UPCA insiders. “It’s a kind of tug-ofwar between a few top guns of the cricketing body and I am expecting more such allegations against many others. In fact, there are many factions working for different bosses in the organisations and that’s the reason why such things are coming up,” a senior UPCA functionary said on Friday.