BCCI may ask Wriddhiman Saha to explain breach of contract clause with comments on president Sourav Ganguly, head coach Rahul Dravid

The specific comments that Wriddhiman Saha made across media is on his selection and his private conversations with Rahul Dravid, chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma and Sourav Ganguly.

Team India wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha. (Source: Twitter)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) might seek an explanation from wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha about his recent outburst targetting BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and head coach Rahul Dravid after being dropped from the Indian team as it feels he violated the protocols for centrally-contracted cricketers. It is learnt that Saha, who is group ‘B’ of central contracts with an annual retainership of Rs 3 crore, is in violation of clause 6.3.

“Player shall not make any comments about the game, officials, incidents that happened in the game, use of technology, selection matters or any other matter related to the game which is in opinion of the BCCI is adverse to and /or not in the interest of the game, team or BCCI in any media...,” the clause states.

The specific comments that Saha made across media is on his selection and his private conversations with Dravid, chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma and Ganguly. “Yes, there is a possibility that BCCI could ask Wriddhiman as to how he spoke on selection matters being a centrally contracted cricketer,” BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal told news agency PTI on Thursday (February 24).

The 37-year-old, whose international career has all but ended after he was told by the team management that the focus is now on grooming a younger keeper, has since also made public allegedly ‘threatening’ Whatsapp messages from a journalist without taking names.

1/3- I was hurt and offended. I thought not to tolerate such kind of behaviour and didn't want anyone to go through these kind of bullying. I decided I will go out and expose the chat in public eye, but not his/her name — Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) February 22, 2022

While the BCCI supported Saha on messages from the unnamed journalist, the parent body is apparently unhappy about him making a private conversation with Dravid public and also mentioning the BCCI president in a critical manner. “As far as the president is concerned, he had tried to motivate him. The board might like to know what made him go public with his dressing room conversations with coach Dravid,” Dhumal said.

So will BCCI serve a formal showcause notice or ask him verbally about the issue? “We haven’t yet decided on the matter. We are all busy but a call will be taken on a few days,” he said.

Many in the BCCI believe that Saha should have refrained from making his conversations with Dravid public as it has dented his image a bit. “Rahul Dravid said that he is not hurt but wanted to clearly communicate with the player. It's a private conversation and even if he was hurt, he should have kept quiet. Dravid became a bigger person as what Saha did was show the head coach in bad light,” a senior BCCI official said.

(with PTI inputs)