Former Indian cricketer and ex-Chief Selector of the Indian cricket team, Dilip Vengasarkar, was the one who selected Virat Kohli in the Indian cricket team after Delhi boy’s success in junior World Cup but little is known that he had to pay the price for this.
In one of the revelations of Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai’s latest book Democracy XI, K Srinivasan was not happy with current skipper Kohli’s selection over Tamil Nadu player Subramaniam Badrinath.
Srinivasan was the treasurer of BCCI and Tamil Nadu cricket head at that time. He was furious at Vengsarkar’s decision to pick Kohli over Badrinath in 2008.
On the other hand, Vengsarkar was keen on selecting Kohli after he led India to title win in Under-19 World Cup, Malaysia. Srinivasan’s impact was such that Vengsarkar was removed as the selector the very next day.
He is quoted in the book saying, “When N. Srinivasan, then board treasurer and controller of Tamil Nadu cricket, found out I had dropped Badrinath for Virat, he was livid and went and complained to the board president Sharad Pawar. The next day I was removed as chairman of selectors but fortunately they couldn’t change my decision to pick Virat,”.
