Bahutule's decision to move to Bengal 'unethical' - Vengsarkar

Dilip Vengsarkar, vice-president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, has said that former India legspinner Sairaj Bahutule's decision to coach the Bengal team is "unethical". Vengsarkar criticised Bahutule for accepting the role with Bengal only a fortnight after he was appointed coach of the Mumbai Under-23 side and was also one of the coaches in MCA's new spin-bowling academy.

According to Vengsarkar, the abrupt move had shown the former legspinner in poor light.

"To put it bluntly, Bahutule has been unethical in his approach, especially when we had appointed him for a salary that was agreed upon and he had been coaching the Under-23 squad for the last two weeks," Vengsarkar told the Times of India.

"At the MCA, we were happy when he showed a lot of interest in coming to Mumbai after his stint with Vidarbha and later Kerala as coach. We were keen to have as many former Mumbai players, captains under the same umbrella as we could, for they are very much aware of the work ethics of a Mumbai cricketer.

"That he would do something like this behind our back is unimaginable. If he wanted to coach a Ranji team, why did he leave Vidarbha and then Kerala, or was he asked to leave? If he is getting a job to coach a Ranji side, then would he leave the same team halfway through if he is offered to coach say Bangladesh or Zimbabwe? The whole episode has shown him in extremely poor light."

Vengsarkar is not the only one peeved with the incident. Bahutule's predecessor in the Bengal team, Ashok Malhotra, said the Cricket Association of Bengal could have been "more professional" and informed him directly of his ouster. Malhotra found out about the CAB's decision through media reports after joint secretary Sourav Ganguly announced Bahutule's appointment while speaking with reporters in New Delhi on Monday night. Malhotra had coached the side for the last two seasons.

"I could have been told by the CAB of their decision personally," Malhotra told the Telegraph. "As a former player who has represented the state and also a coach, would that be too much to expect? I learnt about my fate from the media.

"I must say that I expected CAB to be more professional. There are no hard feelings, but yes, these things could certainly have been done in a better way."