Pondicherry officials livid over Sagar Udeshi’s Duleep Trophy non-selection

All is not well in the recent Duleep Trophy team selection for the South Zone Although a team of 15 led by Hanuma Vihari and five standbyes have been announced by the sevenmember selection panel consisting of a selector each from Tamil Nadu Kerala Karnataka Goa Hyderabad Andhra and Pondicherry several selections of players are under scannerThe most baffling case is of Pondicherry leftarm spinner Sagar Udeshi 36 who despite finishing with 42 wickets in seven Ranji Trophy matches was not picked primarily because of the ldquoage factorrdquoThe same yardstick may have been applied for Ranji Trophyrsquos highest wickettaker Jalaj Saxena who finished with 50 wickets for Kerala in seven games Saxena too was ignored for the Duleep TrophyAnother notable omission is Indiarsquos 2019 World Cup allrounder Vijay Shankar who scored 483 runs and claimed four wickets in the Ranji season Udeshi has been one of the most consistent players for Pondicherry over the years and was in the Duleep Trophy standbyes last season He hoped to make the squad after finishing in the Top Five of the Ranji Trophyrsquos wickettakers for 202223Goarsquos leftarm spinner Darshan Missal 22 wickets in seven Ranji matches was picked The other leftarm spinner in the squad is R Sai Kishore who finished with 29 wickets in six Ranji games for Tamil NaduPondicherry selector Thalaivan Sargunam Xavier is apparently livid ldquoIn spite of best efforts made by the chairman of selectors Dhiraj Narvekar a few state Cricket Associations ganged up against Pondicherry and ensured that no one from CAP Cricket Association of Puducherry would represent SZ South Zone Though Sagar Udeshi who took 42 wickets was left out while bowlers who took 30 wickets from bigger state is sic given priority I strongly protest the very attitude and regret to record that selection is totally biasedrdquo Thalaivan wrote in his remarks on the selection sheet sourced by this correspondentThe reason for Udeshirsquos nonselection was his age factor ldquoWhen it came to voting only three selectors supported Udeshirsquos selection while the remaining four voted against him because of his age It was felt that a youngster should be promotedrdquo a source revealedThalaivan was shocked to learn of the resistance from other state selectors to not pick any Pondicherry cricketer for the Duleep Trophy ldquoI tried to convince everyone why it was important that at least one of our state players be selected in the Duleep Trophy Udeshi has been our top performer for the last several years Udeshirsquos selection would have motivated other players from the state and helped in the development of our statersquos cricket Udeshi deserved a spot in the squad because he has performed well and his performances have come against top teamsldquoPondicherry despite being a new state in domestic cricket has been able to retain its place in the Elite division As a state we have been doing well consistently by defeating domestic giants like Tamil Nadu and Mumbai We also boast of one of the best cricketing infrastructure in India So a welldeserved selection of at least one of the players would have helped immenselyrdquo Thalaivan reiterated during a chatIt is learnt that the cricket players association of Pondicherry are agitated over nonselection of players from their state and plan to launch a protest with the BCCI and the anticorruption unit of the Board ldquoSelectors seemed to have ganged up against Pondicherry players which is a corrupt practice It has to be investigatedrdquo a source saidAs for Mumbaibased Udeshi the leftarm spinner had a terrific Ranji season in which he completed 150 firstclass wickets in just 27 matches During the last Ranji Trophy game Udeshi finished with a fifer 562 against Kerala despite running high temperature throughout the gameUdeshi is obviously disappointed at his nonselection for the Duleep Trophy but the telling blow has only made him more determined for the next seasonAlso Read Mumbairsquos Tushar Deshpande Tanush Kotian shocked by Duleep snub