No confidence motion passed against senior MCA selectors

MUMBAI: The members of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) unanimously passed a no-confidence motion against the Ajit Agarkar-led senior selection committee during a Special Generalmeeting(sgm)onthursday.

Majority members at the SGM, attended by representatives of some of the top clubs in Mumbai, raised their hands in unison when Ravi Mandrekar proposed to amend the resolution and which was seconded by former MCA president Ravi Savant.

The resolution read: “General body expresses no confidence on senior selectors and directs CIC (Cricket Improvement Committee) to appoint new selectors as per the provisions of the law.”

Majority of the members were of the opinion that the senior selection committee had failed in performing their duties. More than 80 members of the MCA attended the meeting.

At one point in the SGM, it was proposed that three Test cricketers be appointed as new members of the CIC, who will appoint the new selectors. But as it was not part of the original resolution, the general opinion was it can’t be moved. The CIC is led by former India pacer Raju Kulkarni.

Khodadad Yazdegardi, the vice-president and cricket secretary of Parsee Gymkhana, had called for the SGM, after the Bombay High Court-appointed ad-hoc committee of the MCA gave him the go ahead for the SGM.

The moved motion stated: “The selectors never watched MCA club matches. The selection for the Madhav Mantri U-23 tournament, which was played in May 2018, was done by coaches appointed for the four teams, instead of selectors. Players who performed exceedingly well in the 2017/18 season were neglected and not selected for 2018/19 probables list.”

Savant later informed that they didn’t want to take the deci- sion to replace the selection committee in the general body itself as it would set the precedent.

“This is the work of the elected body and we wanted them to take action. Call the general body, make a resolution and direct the elected body to take action. Now there is no elected body but the ad-hoc committee so they will take the action. We can always have final authority, but with authority comes a greater responsibility so we shouldn’t get into day-to-day work,” he said.

Savant added: “They have to take action immediately. It’s binding. If they don’t, then we will go to the court.”

Yazdegardi said: “We are very happy that across the board, every member spoke their heart out. Today it was so very open with what is going on with the selection committee and how they are behaving.”

When contacted, Agarkar said: “I haven’t been told anything. Once someone tells me something I’ll speak about it.”