Niranjan Shah defends selection policy; comes down on Wright

Mumbai, July 31 (UNI) The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) came out strongly against former coach John Wright with the secretary Niranjan Shah hitting out at the Kiwi for his controversial comments on the selection policy here in his new book 'Indian Summers'.

Niranjan Shah speaking from Rajkot told UNI that they (selection committee) have been doing a good job over a number of years and asked whether Wright John Wright knew anything about India.

''He comes from a small country which does not have the number of cricketers which we have,'' he said.

On Wright's comments about the zonal basis which the selectors follow, Shah defended it saying, ''It's a democratic process. What's wrong in selectors backing players from their region if they know their potential?'' he asked.

Shah also wondered why Wright had kept mum when Gavaskar had been appointed as the batting consultant during the 2004 Australia series.

''He's talking about Gavaskar helping the players as the team's batting consultant even though he was present as the coach. He should have raised the issue then and not kept mum if he was not happy.

''He should have raised the issues when he was in the job and not after having made a good packet as compensation. What's the use of talking now,'' Shah further said, questioning whether the book was written in all honesty as the former India coach claims.

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