BCCI must explain Sehwag situation

The jhagda between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Indian media persons over the mystery about Virender Sehwag's shoulder injury may have subsided, but serious questions about the fishy affair remain curiously unanswered.

BCCI must explain Sehwag situation

Having missed the warm-up games, group matches and net sessions, the explosive opener, who underwent surgery in Nottingham yesterday, has been a conspicuous passenger on the trip, ostensibly savouring England's salubrious summer as tourist, along with wife and son, at the expense of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Why was he included?
The question the Board has to answer before the bar of public opinion is: Since it is common knowledge that Sehwag was unfit as the result of the injury sustained in the IPL, at whose instance was he included in the squad at the expense of a fully fit player?

BCCI must answer the question: Was Sehwag made to undergo a thorough and professional fitness test? Did the Board's medical staff pronounce him fully fit for the competition in a form of the game that necessitates total physical fitness and athleticism?

It is a well-known fact that Sehwag has a benefactor in Britain, a patron of Indian cricket and avid admirer of the opening batsman, who is known to have showered him, as indeed some other Indian players, with lavish monetary gifts in the past.

As usual, the Indian board (how it luxuriates in the high-faulting, tongue-twisting appellation of Board of Control for Cricket in India!) has peremptorily swept the matter under the carpet, while continuing to maintain an arrogant sphinx-like silence over an issue which manifestly falls in the public domain.

Given the ever-burgeoning infatuation of millions of Indians with the game of cricket and, more importantly, the fact that it has a bearing on the nation's pride and prestige, BCCI owes an explanation to Indian lovers of the game and to fans of the Twenty20 world champion team, in particular.

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