Karsan Ghavri slams Vinayak Samant's reappointment as Mumbai coach

Vinayak Samant

Former India pacer Karsan Ghavri, a member of the Mumbai Cricket Association's Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC), has slammed the manner in which Vinayak Samant has been reappointed as Mumbai coach and the controversy surrounding Sulakshan Kulkarni, who was earlier offered the job.

"The ad-hoc committee cannot overrule a decision which has already been made by the CIC. They should have had a meeting with the CIC to discuss the issue [after Kulkarni did not agree to MCA's contract terms]. If this is how MCA is going to function by taking their own cricketing decisions, then I don't wish to be on the CIC. I am going to resign in a couple of days," an upset Ghavri told mid-day yesterday. "We [CIC] held several meetings, each lasting for nearly five hours, to interview coaches and support staff for the junior and senior teams. [By appointing Samant] they have not just treated CIC badly, but also the coaches and support staff," he added.

On May 9, the MCA on its website, invited applications for coaches of Mumbai's teams, offering an annual remuneration of Rs 24 lakh for the senior team's coach. After interviews were conducted, Kulkarni was CIC's choice. He had offered to join the team from June 1. On July 12 MCA emailed him his appointment letter, but without any contract. The appointment was for one year. With the MCA appointment being delayed, Kulkarni took up a coaching assignment with the Indian physically challenged team for the Physical Disability T20 World series in England. On August 5, when Kulkarni was in England, MCA emailed him his contract letter.

The former Mumbai stumper then sought an appointment with MCA's ad hoc committee upon his return where he raised several concerns including why the remuneration was slashed from Rs 24 lakh to Rs 14 lakh.

The daily match allowance of Rs 10,000 that Kulkarni used to get when he was coach from 2011 to 2013 was reduced to Rs 5,000. Besides this, Kulkarni's contract stated an eight-hour mandatory shift at MCA's indoor academy in Bandra-Kurla Complex.

Sources at MCA said Samant's contract is for Rs 22 lakh. Ghavri felt there was a conspiracy here: "Why was the same [Rs 22 lakh] contract was not offered to Kulkarni then? There is some conspiracy here. I won't bother to go deep into it, but somebody is trying to finger him [Kulkarni] and has succeeded too."

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