``Neither Azharuddin nor I had anything to do with Vinod Kambli's
omission (from the Indian cricket side that toured England),''
said team manager Sandeep Patil (seen here with former manager
Ajit Wadekar), on arrival in Bombay Tuesday.
The controversy, it will be remembered, had been kicked off when former Indian manager Ajit Wadekar had, in a report handed over to the Bombay Cricket Association, squarely blamed Patil and Azhar for filing adverse reports against Kambli - reports, Wadekar sug- gested, that resulted in the left-hander's omission.
Denying the allegation, Patil said in Bombay that on the contrary, ``Kambli was dropped on the basis of reports filed by earlier managers (read, Wadekar.'' ``Now it is up to the Board of Control for Cricket in India to decide Kambli's fate.''
Patil was not prepared to accept the common perception that India had failed badly on the tour. ``Despite having six newcomers in the side, six players who were playing in England for the first time, we did very well. After losing the first Test, our players fought back in the second Test and almost pulled off a win.''
Was the winning opportunity thwarted by bad umpiring?
``Umpiring is a part of the game,'' said Patil, speaking with unaccustomed diplomacy. ``I will not like to elaborate on the issue, as I am not supposed to comment about it.''
Patil singled out bowlers Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad, and batsmen Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly, as the real finds of the tour. As for star spinner Anil Kumble's bad patch, Patil said that he was confident Kumble would recapture his form soon enough. ``The major concern is to find two dependable opening batsmen who can ease the pressure on the middle order,'' Patil felt.
The Indian manager felt that much of the imbalance in the side could be solved if the team was selected over several sittings and if, further, both the manager and the captain had a voice in the selection process.
Patil was again reluctant to answer questions about the other hot issue - the abrupt departure of Navjot Singh Sidhu from the side, to wit. ``It is up to the Board and the disciplinary committee to decide on his fate,'' Patil said.
``No comment,'' shot back Patil when asked about the continuance of Azhar as India's skipper. ``The selection committee will decide on that after going through the reports submitted by myself and administrative manager Nagaraj,'' he added.
About what tone the report would take, however, Patil remained non-committal.