Former selector Raja Venkat receives flak for Kohli, Dhoni captaincy comment

New Delhi: After spilling the beans on how N Srinivasan stopped Virat Kohli replacing Mahendra Singh Dhoni as India's One-Day International captain in 2011, former national selector Raja Venkat received widespread criticism from his former colleagues and Board of Control for Cricket in India ​(BCCI) officials.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, former selector Ranjib Biswal questioned Venkat's revelation saying, "It was part of our contract not to disclose the selection matters publicly with at least five years cooling off period post a term. But there is an unwritten rule, it's an ethics issue not to bring selection matters into public domain."

Kiran More, a former chairman of selection committee, also criticised Venkat's comments.

"It leaves a bad taste. It creates unnecessary disharmony in the dressing room once you make it known who backed who in selection meetings. If there is any opposition in the meetings, then you protest within. Revealing things only damages the interest of Indian cricket," the report added.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur also shared his thoughts on the development. He felt that the issue of confidentiality should be maintained as the absence of a strong prohibitive clause may encourage many such contents of the selection meetings finding space in the public domain, according to the report.

In a sensational disclosure, Venkat had recently revealed through a Bengali tabloid that the then BCCI president Srinivasan subverted the selection committee's decision to replace appoint Kohli as ODI captain over MS Dhoni in 2011.