Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar has revealed that his decision to back Virat Kohli in 2008 over Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath, led to an untimely end of his tenure as the Chief selector of the BCCI’s national selection committee. Speaking at the sidelines of an event in Mumbai, Vengsarkar explained how he was keen to hand Kohli a debut after spotting his talent at the U-19 World Cup and later in the Emerging Players tour to Australia. However, former coach Gary Kirsten and ex-India skipper MS Dhoni were not convinced.
“There was an Emerging Players tour to Australia. The selection committee decided to include only U-23 players for this tour. That year, we had won the U-19 World Cup as well and Virat Kohli was captain of that team. We included him in the Emerging Players team. I had gone to Brisbane to see those matches,” Vengsarkar recalled.
“Virat opened the innings against West Indies who had a few Test cricketers in their ranks, but we had none and in that match, Virat scored 123 not out. I felt that we should play this guy in the Indian team. I felt this was an ideal situation to include Kohli in the squad. Although the other four selectors agreed with my decision, Gary Kirsten and MS Dhoni were reluctant as they had not seen much of Kohli. I told them that I have seen him and we have to include him in the team,” Vengsarkar added.
Describing why the debate between Badrinath and Kohli occurred, the 61-year-old said, “I knew that they were keen on keeping S Badrinath in the team because he was a Chennai Super Kings player. If Kohli would have come in, Badrinath would have been dropped. N Srinivasan was the BCCI treasurer at that time. He was upset that Badrinath was dropped because he was their player.”
“Srinivasan asked me on what basis Badrinath was axed, and I explained that I had been on the Emerging Players tour to Australia where I saw Virat, who is an exceptional player and that is why he is in the team. He argued that Badrinath has scored over 800 runs for Tamil Nadu. I told him that he will get his chance,” he added.
Apparently, Srinivasan then asked him when would Badrinath get a chance, to which Vengsarkar replied by saying, “I can’t tell you when.”
“The very next day, he (Srinivasan) took (Kris) Srikkanth, who later succeeded Vengasarkar as chief selector, to Sharad Pawar, who was the (BCCI) president then and that was the end of my selection tenure,” Vengsarkar concluded by saying.
