Shastri-Naik Wankhede pitch row: MCA asks Vengsarkar to find a solution to the issue

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has asked its vice-President and former skipper Dilip Vengsarkar to enquire into the spat between Team India Director Ravi Shastri and Wankhede Stadium pitch curator Sudhir Naik during the 5th India-South Africa ODI on Sunday. “Sudhir Naik has given details of what happened at the Wankhede Stadium (on that day) to the MCA Managing Committee which has entrusted vice-president Dilip Vengsarkar with the task of finding a solution to the issue,” said Ashish Shelar, another MCA vice-president, after its meeting today. [caption id=“attachment_1808705” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Dilip Vengsarkar. Reuters[/caption] “He will talk to both the parties and submit his report at the next meeting of the committee scheduled on November 5 after which the future course of action would be decided,” he added. The meeting was chaired by MCA President Sharad Pawar. Naik, also a former Test cricketer, had alleged in a letter written to the MCA that Shastri abused him after South Africa piled on a record-high score of 438 on a perfect batting track in the series deciding ODI game. India, chasing the mammoth score, collapsed for 224 and lost the match by 214 runs and the series 2-3. Naik had claimed that BCCI usually sends a message to the international match hosting centres 10 to 12 days in advance about their requirement but this time MCA did not get any message and prepared a batting track. Naik had also claimed Indian team’s bowling coach Bharat Arun had fired his assistant Ramesh Mhamunkar, though he had no right to do so. He had demanded that MCA reprimand both Shastri and Arun for their actions. Meanwhile, other MCA managing committee members sounded confident that the matter would be resolved amicably as both Shastri and Naik were from Mumbai. “Yeh to ghar ka mamla hai (It’s an internal matter as both have played for Mumbai). It will be resolved amicably,” one member told PTI on condition of anonymity. PTI