Working Committee does not discuss Vengsarkar compensation

The BCCI Working Committee has not discussed Dilip Vengsarkar's request for compensation after being barred from writing his column as per the seven-point diktat sent to all selectors recently.

"The BCCI officials had laid down the guidelines. The board felt if there are any issues, the office-bearers should deal with it," N Srinivasan, the BCCI treasurer, said. "No decision was taken about any compensation. At present the guidelines stand."

Vengsarkar, the chairman of the national selection committee, had claimed a loss of earning of approximately Rs 40 lakh annually, and demanded to be compensated.

The Working Committee, which met in Mumbai on Sunday, also ratified the appointments of Gary Kirsten as national coach and Dav Whatmore as the director of operations at the National Cricket Academy. However, Whatmore will be a consultant for the moment and will only take over as director of the National Cricket Academy, based in Bangalore, in early 2008.

One of Whatmore's first assignments as consultant will be to coach the Indian under-19 team in the forthcoming junior World Cup. After that WV Raman, the former Indian Test opener, will take over as coach of the under-19 team for the series against the South Africa under-19s, starting on December 28.

In another significant development, the Working Committee decided to increase the infrastructure subvention handed out annually to individual states from Rs 25 crore to Rs 50 crore. This decision was taken keeping in mind the fact that several state associations do not own the stadia in which they play cricket and will be encouraged to buy land and build their own infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Working Committee replaced Delhi's Abhinav Bali with Bengal's Manoj Tiwary as the recipient of the MA Chidambaram Trophy - given to the best under-22 cricketer in the 2006-07 season - along with a cash prize of Rs 50,000. The BCCI had initially named Bali in its list of awardees for its annual awards, though he had signed with the Indian Cricket League, an unofficial tournament not recognised by the board.