Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar has revealed on how his tenure as a chief for the selection committee came to an end just two years after finishing his term as a chief selector.

Dilip Vengsarkar was succeeded More as the chief selector in October 2006 just before being replaced by Krishnamachari Srikkanth in September 2008. “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  was captain of that team. We included him in the Emerging Players team. I had gone to Brisbane to see those matches. 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,” Vengsarkar said during a function to felicitate Marathi sports journalists yesterday.

After returning from Australia, Team India were to tour to Sri Lanka for an ODI series. “”I felt this was an ideal situation to include Kohli in the squad. Although the other four selectors agreed with my decision, Gary Kirsten (coach) and MS Dhoni (skipper) 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. 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,” Vengsarkar recalled.

N Srinivasan, the then BCCI treasurer was upset that Badrinath was dropped because he was their state player.

“He (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 th team. He argued that Badrinath has scored over 800 runs for Tamil Nadu. I told him that he will get his chance. He then asked, ‘When will he get his chance?’ He is already 29 now’. I told him that he will get his chance but I can’t tell you when. The very next day, he (Srinivasan) took Srikkanth to Sharad Pawar, who was then president of BCCI and that is how my tenure as a chief of selection committee came to an end,’ said Vengsarkar.

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