Chetan Sharma resigns as BCCI's chairman of selection committee after sting operation

BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma resigned from his post of chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI)'s selection committee following a TV Sting operation where he spilt the beans on Indian Cricket's dirty secrets. As reported by ANI, the chief selector has sent his resignation to board secretary Jay Shah who has accepted it.

''Yes, Chetan has tendered his resignation to BCCI secretary Jay Shah and his resignation has been accepted. His position had become untenable after the sting operation. He resigned voluntarily and wasn't asked to resign,'' a senior BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity on Friday.

Chetan Sharma was in Kolkata along with other selection committee members for the Ranji Trophy final between Bengal and Saurashtra. They were there to select the Irani Cup team.

Sharma was caught in a controversy on Tuesday after he allegedly revealed classified selection matters during a sting operation conducted by a TV channel.

Sharma, who was recently reinstated by the BCCI after being removed following India's showing in the T20 World Cup in Australia, was seen during the sting operation casting aspersions on players like Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. Sharma also allegedly revealed his internal discussions with head coach Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli during the sting conducted by Zee News.

Sharma alleged that a lot of players take injections to expedite their return to competitive cricket despite being 80 to 85 per cent fit.''Not a pain killer. They take injections and no one gets to know about it. The player will have to take a prescription for a pain killer and he will get caught in anti-doping, they know directly which injection won't come in anti-doping. They are big superstars. They will make one phone call. There are a thousand doctors, they will come at night and give them an injection," he added.

In the video, which has now gone viral on social media, the former India pace bowler also alleged that there was a difference of opinion between him and the team management over Bumrah's return from a stress fracture for the T20I series against Australia in September.

Bumrah still continues to be out of action, and will likely miss the entire four-Test Border-Gavaskar series and the three-match ODI series after that.

Sharma also alleged that there was an ego tussle between former captain Kohli and former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.

It is learnt that Chetan's comments did not go down well with the BCCI top brass, and the current national squad members also lost their trust in him.

''Coach Rahul Dravid, captains Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya have completely lost faith in him. He couldn't have possibly sat across the table along with them for selection committee meetings as he had lost all respect. He paid the price for being a big mouth," said another BCCI source told PTI.

Chetan and the entire selection committee had earlier been sacked following India's semi-final exit in the T20 World Cup in Australia. He re-applied for the post and was re-appointed as chairman.

Chetan, a handy pace bowler, who played when Kapil Dev was at the helm of Indian cricket, is India's first hat-trick man in ODI World Cup. Chetan is best remembered for Pakistan's Javed Miandad hitting him for a last-ball six during the 1986 Asia Cup final in Sharjah.