Chetan Chauhan responds to Gautam Gambhir’s claims after Navdeep Saini’s debut

Former India cricketer Chetan Chauhan responded to Gautam Gambhir’s claims of DDCA officials stopping pacer Navdeep Saini from representing Delhi in the Ranji Trophy. Earlier, Gambhir took jibes at legendary former spinner Bishan Singh Bedi and Chauhan. 37-year-old Gambhir had claimed that pacer Saini was treated as an outsider in the Delhi circuit.

After Saini’s impressive debut against West Indies in the 1st T20I, Gambhir lambasted the former DDCA officials in a Twitter post. The Karnal-born pacer scalped three wickets including a maiden over in his debut international outing and was adjudged the man of the match for his heroics.

“Kudos Navdeep Saini on ur India debut. U already have 2 wkts even before u have bowled-@BishanBedi & @ChetanChauhanCr. Their middle stumps are gone seeing debut of a player whose cricketing obituary they wrote even before he stepped on the field, shame!!!”

Chauhan, now Uttar Pradesh’s sports minister, defended himself by saying that he had no qualms regarding Saini’s ability. he added that it was a rule set out by DDCA and he was merely following it.

Chauhan responded to Gambhir’s claims

“Cricketers from Delhi were moving out to different states while some of the talented players were told to join the Delhi camp. This system wasn’t working and the DDCA executive committee felt that there should be a one-year cooling period like they have in Mumbai.” Chauhan said in his defence.

Chauhan went on to say that then-skipper Gambhir had threatened the management and offered to quit in case the demand wasn’t fulfilled. “Then one fine day, Gambhir suggested Saini’s name and I was against it because it was against the regulations. Gambhir even threatened to quit playing for Delhi. I got a call from then DDCA president Arun Jaitley, who wasn’t in favour of making it a public spectacle.” he added.

Apart from Chauhan, Bedi too responded to Gambhir’s claims. The former India captain said that credit should solely go to Saini for his efforts. He denied all the allegations and added that he doesn’t believe that he has to “stoop to conquer.”

– Sayantan Bhattacharjee