National selector Devang Gandhi on Thursday suffered embarrassment when he was asked to leave the Bengal Ranji team dressing room for breach of protocol, a charge rejected by him. The incident happened when the second day’s play was held up due to bad light and Gandhi entered the dressing room, looking for team physio.
BCCI anti-corruption official Soumen Karmakar asked Gandhi to leave the dressing room after former captain Manoj Tiwary cited anti-corruption protocol, which specifies that only players and team support-staff can be present in the dressing room.
Gandhi though said he did take permission from the anti-corruption officer before entering the dressing room.
“I had followed every protocol. I was invited by Bengal coach Arun Lal to the dressing room. He was my first captain. I had a back issue, so I took permission and asked the Bengal physio to come to the medical room. But Manoj seemed to have issues with it,” Gandhi told PTI.
The East zone selector said Tiwary, who has played under him in a couple of Ranji seasons, did something uncalled for.
According to sources, the matter will be reported to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly.
The play was held up twice due to bad light in the first session with a partial solar eclipse as Bengal’s first innings folded for 289.
