Indian board backs under-fire manager

The Indian board (BCCI) has come to the defense of Chetan Desai, the manager of the Indian team on the tour of South Africa, and said that it would seek an explanation from Rahul Dravid for his outburst against Desai.

Desai had come under a scathing attack from Dravid for his tour report which criticised the selection of an out-of-form Virender Sehwag and an unfit Munaf Patel for the series-deciding Test at Cape Town which India lost.

"We would like to talk to Dravid and find out the exact situation in which he has been reported to have said these words," said Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary. "Chetan Desai was the manager on the tour and as per tradition he filed his report after the team's return. And he has not said anything about his [Dravid's] abilities as a player in the report. The report is with Mr Sharad Pawar [BCCI president] and after he reads it he will give us guidelines on what to do."

Dravid told reporters in Kolkata that Desai had no standing in the game." Anyone is entitled to give his opinion; anyone is entitled to give a report. But me commenting on that, I will comment only when it is worthy of my comment.

"It is important to put it in perspective and understand that I have been asked for my views on a report given by someone ... When I last looked at the history of Indian cricket I did not necessarily see his [Desai's] name featuring very prominently."

The report was said to be critical of Sehwag's attitude to the game and also did not spare Dravid for being stubborn in selection matters, especially in the third Test. Shah also sought to play down the matter of how the report got leaked to the media and what the BCCI was going to do about this. "We are certainly interested in knowing how it happened," Shah shot back when queried whether the BCCI was not worried how the leak took place