Anil Kumble supports former India teammate Wasim Jaffer
New Delhi: Spin legend Anil Kumble on Thursday extended support to his former India teammate Wasim Jaffer after the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) alleged that he had tried to force religion-based selections as the state team's coach.
Jaffer, who quit as Uttarakhand coach owing to a dispute with the state association, on Wednesday rejected allegations by the cricket association's officials that he favoured Muslim players in the team. He got support from Kumble, a former India captain and coach who currently heads the ICC's cricket committee.
"With you Wasim. Did the right thing. Unfortunately it's the players who'll miss your mentor ship," Kumble wrote on his twitter handle.
The 42-year-old Jaffer, who played 31 Tests for India and is a celebrated name in domestic cricket, said the charge levelled by CAU's secretary Mahim Verma in a media report, had caused him immense pain.
Jaffer resigned on Tuesday citing "interference and bias of selectors and the association's secretary for non-deserving players" as the reason.
"...jo communal angle lagaya (the communal angle that has been brought up), that is very, very sad," Jaffer said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
"They levelled an allegation that I am in favour of Iqbal Abdulla, I wanted to make Iqbal Abdulla as the captain, which is absolutely wrong," he asserted.
The leading run-getter in Ranji Trophy also dismissed allegations that he brought Maulvis (Muslim religious scholars) to the team's training.
"First of all they said the Maulavis came there in a bio-bubble and we offered Namaz. Let me tell you one thing, the Maulavi, Maulana, who came on two or three Fridays during the camp in Dehradun, I had not called him.
"It was Iqbal Abdulla (Uttarakhand player) who sought mine and the manager's permission only for the Friday prayer," he said referring to the 31-year-old all-rounder, who has competed in the IPL but hasn't played for India yet.
In a tweet, he also said he "recommended Jay Bista for captaincy not Iqbal but CAU officials favoured Iqbal".
Jaffer was appointed as the head coach of the state team in June 2020. He had signed a one-year contract with CAU. Uttarakhand won only one out of their 5 matches in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
With you Wasim. Did the right thing. Unfortunately it’s the players who’ll miss your mentor ship.
— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) February 11, 2021
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Indo-US trade deal will destroy Indian farmers: Rahul Gandhi
Barnala (Punjab) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that the Indo-US interim trade deal will destroy Indian farmers.
Addressing the "Mazdoor Kissan Maha Rally" here, Gandhi alleged that the deal had been stalled for four months due to disagreements over the opening of the agriculture sector.
"Question arises, the work which PM did not do for four months, why did he do it within 15 minutes?" he said and asked why the trade deal was suddenly done.
Gandhi said that Modi gave a guarantee to US President Donald Trump that every year India will buy US products worth Rs 9 lakh crore.
He said that the deal will "destroy Indian farmers".
During his address, Gandhi claimed he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha recently after the President's address because he wanted to comment on former Army Chief Manoj Naravane's memoirs.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said he intended to refer to an unpublished book by Gen Naravane (retd), which, he claimed, described a lack of response from the political leadership during Chinese troop movements near the border.
Senior Congress leaders, including K C Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition in Punjab, Partap Singh Bajwa, former chief ministers Charanjit Singh Channi and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Randhawa and another senior leader from the state Vijay Inder Singla were present.
