Nobody asked me to leave the dressing room: Devang Gandhi on Bengal dressing room incident

National selector Devang Gandhi, on Thursday, gave a clarification on the incident of him being ousted from the Bengal dressing room at the Eden Gardens. Devang was in attendance when the hosts were taking on Andhra. And he soon found himself all over the news after reports suggested that he was ejected from the dressing room for breaking the rules.

As per the media reports, the Anti-Corruption Officer asked Devang to get out of the dressing room. The reports also suggested that former Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary was the one who lodged a complaint after finding out that the former Bengal player was in the dressing room. Devang, however, has rubbished the reports as he stated that he did not break any protocol.

He clarified that he entered Bengal’s dressing room after taking permission from the match referee and Anti Corruption Unit. Explaining the whole incident, he said he required some medical treatment and for that, he was asked by the physio to come in the medical room which was outside the dressing room.

“No breach because I have obtained prior permission from the match referee, ACU and it was not during the course of the match which was very important. Most of the players were out and physio suggested that you come in and I was there for a little bit and then went out straight away. I was not comfortable myself as in the last three years I have not broken any protocols,” Devang Gandhi was quoted as saying by India Today.

Nobody asked me to leave: Devang Gandhi

Devang Gandhi further insisted that he was not asked by anyone to leave the dressing room. He claimed that all the reports of him being ousted from the dressing room are wrong. The national selector said that the players knew him and all of them were respectful to him.

“Basically in the morning, there was no play at that point in time. I have gone down and there was no breakage of any protocol. I was invited by the coach who suggested that Bengal physio was good and I wanted treatment and I got myself treated in the medical room of the CAB which was outside the dressing room,” Devang Gandhi said.

“Nobody asked me to leave the dressing room and anything like that because all the boys know that I have played for Bengal and they were all respectful enough. Nobody asked me to leave which was wrongly reported,” he added.

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