Bangalore sees Biswal play peacemaker too

[DesiChap]

Bangalore sees Biswal play peacemaker too - Selector helps Niranjan Shah and Dilip Vengsarkar get together after meeting LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHIChief selector Dilip Vengsarkar arrives to attend the selection meeting in Bangalore on Wednesday. (AFP)

Bangalore: East Zone’s man on the senior selection committee, Orissa Cricket Association chief Ranjib Biswal, is understood to have played peacemaker after Wednesday’s selection committee meeting here. According to The Telegraph’s sources, Biswal invited Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar to his room at the Grand Ashok and they appear to have taken the first steps towards “clearing†misunderstandings. Among other things, Vengsarkar had complained about Shah’s functioning in a lengthy communication to president Sharad Pawar the other day and there was no warmth when they met for the first time after that. “Obviously, both shook hands at the selection committee meeting, but it was a formal gesture… Both had long faces… It’s in Biswal’s room that they sought to clear misunderstandings… Both seem to have realised that they need to work together,†pointed out one of the sources. It couldn’t be confirmed, but Shah told Vengsarkar (a former captain) that he’d “always†backed him. The chief selector, apparently, responded by saying he’d known Shah for “decades.†Two other selectors, Sanjay Jagdale and Venkatapathi Raju, were present in Biswal’s room. The fifth, Bhupinder Singh, left immediately after the meeting.

Ranjib Biswal

The meeting, by the way, began over two-and-a-half hours late owing to Vengsarkar’s delayed arrival from Mumbai. He took the first flight home after the interaction in Biswal’s room. Biswal, it may be recalled, had attempted to broker peace on Sunday too, when he called on Vengsarkar at his Mumbai residence. He didn’t succeed then, but seems to have got both parties to become a little “thanda†now. Meanwhile, Vengsarkar and Raju will be on duty in Bangalore. The chief selector, who is supposed to have a one-on-one with Pawar before the December 16 working committee meeting, is going to be back here in a couple of days.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071206/asp/sports/story_8635613.asp