JOIN USDDCA President Arun Jaitley said that Sehwag and his Delhi team-mate Gautam Gambhir met him in Pataudi’s presence on Monday night when the compromise was reached.
Accordingly, Sehwag was not going anywhere and would be representing Delhi, Jaitley said, without disclosing how he managed to pacify the star opener who had threatened to move to Haryana protesting nepotism in selection and the high-handedness of the Sports Committee.
“Last evening, both the senior players met me and my DDCA colleagues and we were fortunate to have Mr Pataudi among us. We discussed several issues and I can tell you that the nature of discussion was not adversarial,” Jaitley told reports at the Feroze Shah Kotla.
“They had primarily two concerns -- to ensure that selection process is absolutely fair and that no interference of any kind would be tolerated. Their suggestions were well-intentioned and I told both the players and my colleagues that both the steps should be taken so that the standard of fairness of the highest level is maintained,” he said.
Even though DDCA officials were quoted in the media as saying that Sehwag was free to collect his No Objection Certificate and move to Haryana, Jaitley completely denied that.
“No body ever said Sehwag can go if he wanted. The moment I came to know about his view on the subject, I told him to meet me on his return to Delhi from Bangalore where he was undergoing rehabilitation. He did just that and we resolved the issue,” Jaitley said. He said DDCA was toying with the idea of reducing the number of selectors and avoid any conflict of interests following reports of nepotism.
In the entire exercise, not a single Sports Committee head rolled as Jaitley sprang in support of the panel, which has been in the eye of the storm.
“The Sports Committee only recommends and it’s up to the Executive Committee to take the final decision. When it comes to selection, it all depends on the selector’s individual discretion,” Jaitley explained.