'Upset and humiliated' Raju Kulkarni quits CIC

Raju Kulkarni

The newly-formed Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has already witnessed two resignations after their very first meeting, held on May 8. First, former Ranji cricketer Sanjay Patil resigned after he got himself nominated as a selector of the Mumbai senior and U-23 committees and as chairman of the U-19 selection panel. Then, yesterday, former India pacer Raju Kulkarni informed the MCA about his unavailability to be on the CIC panel.

Kulkarni and his other CIC colleague Kiran Mokashi had expressed their dissent over the selection panels announced by MCA last Thursday, claiming that some of the names included were not even discussed during the CIC meeting a day before the announcement.

Kulkarni frustrated
Kulkarni said he felt frustrated to be a part of the CIC. "Yes, I have conveyed it to MCA that they should not consider me for the CIC henceforth. I have absolutely no grievances against MCA as they graciously accepted all my terms and conditions when I came back on the CIC panel," Kulkarni told mid-day, referring to his previous decision to quit the committee in March when he was unhappy with some of MCA's decisions.

"I came back with a purpose, to serve Mumbai cricket, but when you don't see that happening, no constructive work taking place, then there's no point being a part of the CIC. It was upsetting and humiliating [when names which are not even discussed were appointed to the selection committees]. And some of the CIC members were using their powers to get plum posts," Kulkarni added.

It is learnt that CIC chief Dilip Vengsarkar is looking to induct former India cricketers Karsan Ghavri and Suru Nayak into his panel to fill the spots vacated by Patil and Kulkarni. Meanwhile, the CIC is likely to appoint a separate U-23 selection committee considering the workload on the selectors given a slew of new tournaments being introduced by BCCI last season. Usually, the senior selection panel also looks after U-23 cricket.

CIC likely to remove non-FC players
MCA sources have also indicated that the CIC is likely to remove those members from the selection committees who have not played first-class cricket. This will be done in order to safeguard any breach of the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations. There are as many as four non-first-class players who are currently part of the junior selection panels.

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