Press Trust of India
BANGALORE, Nov 22: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has reportedly offered to resign from the high-profile post following paceman Rudra Pratap Singh's exclusion from the ODI team but the BCCI vehemently denied the development.
According to television reports, Dhoni had a disagreement with the selectors during the meeting on Thursday to pick the team for the fourth and fifth matches of the ongoing series against England.
Dhoni was unhappy that the selectors decided to drop RP Singh and include Irfan Pathan in his place and offered to resign, the television reports claimed, quoting an unnamed source close to one of the selectors.
The BBCI, however, was quick to rubbish the reports. "I can't respond to something that is being floated around by somebody," BCCI secretary N Srinivisan said.
The Indian players are currently in Bangalore to play the fourth match and the team management could not be immediately reached for their comments. Dhoni's customary pre-match press conference is scheduled to be held later in the afternoon.
The reports said BCCI President Shashank Manohar was forced to interfere and sort out the issue.
The newly formed selection committee, headed by former Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth had met on Thursday for the team selection when the differences apparently cropped up.
Last year, Rahul Dravid too had relinquished captaincy. Lack of say in selection matters was widely touted as the reason behind Dravid's abrupt decision.
The team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Virat Kohli, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan