Dismayed by the team's poor performance during the ongoing tour of South Africa, the Indian cricket board on Friday decided to rush chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar there.
India was bundled out for 91 and lost the second limited-overs international by 157 runs Wednesday in Durban, South Africa. It was the first international outing of the tour for Indian cricketers, after the opening one-dayer was rained off.
The Indian team's poor show sparked anger back home and even prompted a top cricket administrator to say that not a penny should be paid to non-performing players as a match fee.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sharad Pawar said Friday that Vengsarkar had been asked to convey the sentiments of the nation to the cricket team.
Vengsarkar, who took over as chief selector two months ago, has been asked to join the squad at the earliest.
Vengsarkar will talk ``with the coach, captain and players and communicate the feelings of the countrymen,'' Pawar told independent New Delhi Television.
Cricket board chief administrator Ratnakar Shetty said the proposal for performance-linked match fees was yet to be discussed, but the players were not in danger of having their wages slashed for the poor performance in Durban.
Shashank Manohar, a vice president of BCCI, sparked a debate by saying that non-performing players must not be paid huge match fees.
Shetty was quoted by Press Trust of India as saying that the performance-based payment might be discussed after the South African tour.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
