Ranji Trophy: Ajay Jadeja quits as Delhi coach

New Delhi, Oct 2: There seems to be no end to controversies in Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) as former India captain Ajay Jadeja resigned as chief coach of Delhi Ranji Trophy's team.

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Jadeja has quit without being in-charge of even a single Ranji Trophy game. The season started yesterday as Delhi faced Rajasthan in Jaipur. However, Jadeja had not travelled with the Gautam Gambhir-captained side, which led to speculations.

Now, Jadeja himself has put an end to all the rumours. "I have read in the newspapers that the reason I have not travelled with the team is because Amit Bhandari has been appointed assistant coach. I would like to clarify that this is not the reason. It is sad to see that once again, players are being used to settle personal scores in the DDCA," Jadeja told "The Hindu" newspaper on Thursday (October 1).

"I am extremely thankful to all the people instrumental in my getting involved with Delhi cricket. As I understood the developments, the government nominees had got involved after the fiasco of the three different lists of probables being proposed and the different factions claiming to be in control.

"My purpose, I thought, was to see that cricket could carry on and the players would not be disadvantaged. That was the only reason for I being involved. I don't belong to any faction in the DDCA," he added.

"Now, it seems the DDCA is back to working on its own and does not need the services of anyone appointed by the government nominees or otherwise. No one within the organisation seems to have a problem with this way of functioning. Obviously, my opinion or inputs don't matter to DDCA. I wish Delhi cricket the best," he said.

On Jadeja's absence for the season opener in Jaipur, DDCA president Sneh Prakash Bansal had said he would not be there since his son was not well.

"Ajay (Jadeja) has informed us that he would not be able to perform the coach's duty as his son is not well. He is expected to join the team from the second match," Bansal had told PTI on Wednesday (September 30).

"I don't think that can be the reason. For us, Ajay is the chief coach and his decisions are final. If there would have been such a problem, we would have removed Bhandari as Jadeja is more important to us," he had explained.

In the run-up to the Ranji Trophy, DDCA had been hit by controversies about team selection and other issues.

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