Bhandari assaulter Dedha slapped with life-ban

The Delhi and District Club Association (DDCA) on Wednesday slapped a life-ban on Anuj Dedha who had assaulted the Delhi chief senior selector and former India pacer Amit Bhandari for not picking him in the squad.

Dedha, on being ignored for the state under-23 team, hired henchmen to attack Bhandari when he was watching the trial match at the St Stephen's ground on Monday. Dedha is currently under police custody.

“We have decided to ban the player, who assaulted the chief selector, for life from all forms of cricket. This is the strictest possible action which DDCA can take. It was recommended by all the international players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan,” DDCA chairman Rajat Sharma told DH.

Sharma said the DDCA was taking strong measures to ensure such an incident was not repeated.

“We are making a list of dos and don'ts and one rule we all agreed today is that when the trials take place there should be security all around and parents, relatives, friends of players should not be allowed. Only the players should be allowed to the ground and they should be the only ones interacting with the selectors, managers and coaches.

“The grounds where we don't have CCTV cameras, we will ask the managers to inform police so that there is one PCR van around when the trials are taking place.

“The boy, who was involved, is still on police remand, his brother has been sent to judicial custody for 15 days. So obviously these things will send a very strong message that for DDCA there is zero tolerance for any kind of violence. We will not allow anyone to assault our selectors, managers and coaches. Any player who does it will be punished severely,” he said.

Sharma said the selectors have been told to get in touch with DDCA if they receive any calls of threat.

“The selectors are paying the price for being transparent, straight and honest. We have told our selectors, you don't have to take any pressure, we will back you. I have told them whenever any selector gets a call of threat or pressure, they should inform me. DDCA will take appropriate action,” he said.