When Srikkanth was asked to dump seniors

For long, the issue of graded payments had been uneasily hanging in the air. Senior cricketers were insisting that this be implemented ... Raj Singh Dungarpur, the then powerful chairman of selectors, who was staying in the same hotel (Taj Palace in Delhi), called me to his room. He told me in no uncertain terms that if I abandoned my senior colleagues, he would give me a brand-new team, a second XI of sorts made up totally of youngsters, for the Pakistan tour. He said I would have the BCCI’s complete backing.