Chetan Chauhan led DDCA sacks U-19 selection committee, offers Dahiya new deal

The current ruling group of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA), led by former India opener Chetan Chauhan, has decided that chief coach Vijay Dahiya would be given a contract of Rs 15 lakh – far less than the amount demanded by the KKR assistant coach.

However Dahiya at this point of time has decided not to make it an issue and will be travelling with the state team to Rohtak for their next Ranji Trophy campaign against Haryana starting January 5.

“I along with treasurer (Ravinder Manchanda) met Vijay and told him that we can offer him a contract of Rs 15 lakh for the season. He is not a member of DDCA, so paying him is not a problem. Actually, when Vijay and other support staff were appointed, the appointments were not made through proper channel as in a proposal placed in front of executive committee,” Chauhan told reporters today.

“But we have decided that we will give Vijay a contract and he will be getting Rs 15 lakh for the current season. There is a trainer called Nishant Singh and he also didn’t have a contract. So we have also decided to pay him a salary of Rs 75,000 for six months and a return air-ticket,” Chauhan further added.

It was learnt that Dahiya, a former India stumper had demanded Rs 35 lakh but it seems that he will have to settle for an amount which is nearly half the figure quoted by him.

“What we are offering Vijay, some former cricketers feel that it’s also too much but we have decided to offer him that amount. We will also give some money to bowling coach Amit Bhandari but we will definitely take some strong decisions on downsizing the support staff,” Chauhan said.

The two assistant coaches Maninder Singh Jaggi and Ajeet Chaudhary might be handed pink slip in the coming days. In another significant development, the U-19 selection committee headed by former Delhi captain Bantoo Singh has been removed after allegations of malpractices regarding the selection of the colts.

“We had a lot of complaints about the U-19 selection committee and have decided to form a new panel. The good news is that Madan Lal has agreed to be a ‘Mentor’ of the U-19 team voluntarily and will not charge a penny for it. Every decision on development of U-19 cricket will be taken by Madan,” Chauhan added.

PTI