BCCI lets down scribes after inviting Sandeep Patil to attend presser

MUMBAI: Expectations that Sandeep Patil would address the media persons for the first time after taking over as chairman of the national cricket selection panel more than two years ago were dashed as he hardly uttered a word when the 2015 World Cup squad was announced here today.

The expectations rose when BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel invited the waiting print and electronic media persons, standing just outside the Board's headquarters, inside for a proper press conference without prior notice.

But Patil, sitting alongside Patel, did not take any question from the media after the latter announced the squads for the World Cup and the ODI triangular series that will precede it in Australia.

Except butting in once to help the BCCI secretary that Ishant Sharma had a 'knee niggle" which kept him out of the last and final Test against Australia that commenced today at Sydney, the former dashing middle-order batsman did not utter a single word.

It was Patel who answered questions and provided clarifications about injuries sustained by Ravindra Jadeja and Sharma, much to the chagrin of the media persons who wondered why at all did Patil, a member of the 1983 World Cup winning squad led by Kapil Dev, was there during the announcement.

The BCCI clamped down on the chief selector addressing the media after Patil's predecessor Krishnamachari Srikkanth once had harsh words to say to a scribe who pestered him with questions on Virender Sehwag's inclusion.

According to a BCCI insider it was after six years that the media had been invited inside the Board's headquarters to attend a media conference after a selection committee meeting.