BCCI targets Madan Lal for comments

North Zone representative Lal appears daily on Zee News in a panel discussion on World Cup matches and is not averse to commenting on Indian displays and players which is against the Board8217;s rules and regulations.

As per the Board8217;s rules, only the chairman of the selection committee can talk to the media.

Recently, another selector, South Zone8217;s Shivlal Yadav, was rapped on his knuckles by the Board for coming out in support of Mohammed Azharuddin to lead India in the World Cup before the selection committee meeting. Yadav had to express his regret to the Board for his action.

Lal is, at present, based in Singapore from where he is airing his views, Board sources added.

Meanwhile, the Board has also written to the International Cricket Council ICC announcing its decision to replace Hyderabad8217;s V K Ramaswamy with Karnataka8217;s A V Jayaprakash on the National Grid ICC panel of umpires.

The change will be made at ICC8217;s three-day meeting in London scheduled to be held from June 23 to 25 after the World Cup, Board sources revealed.

Meanwhile, Board chief Raj Singh Dungarpur revealed in London that he had opposed the plan of the national selectors to divest Sachin Tendulkar of the captaincy and bring back Azharuddin.

But Dungarpur said he eventually went along with the decision as 8220;all others8221; were for the change.

Tendulkar succeeded Azharuddin as captain in mid-1996, but was stripped of the post at the end of 1997 following a poor campaign in a One-day tournament in Sharjah. In fact, the selectors made the change after asking Azharuddin to show more interest in team matters.

Dungarpur was full of praise for Tendulkar, describing the star batsman as not only the best batsman in the world, but 8220;a most genuine gentleman in the Indian team. If only we had a couple of such players, we would be unbeatable in the world,8221; he said.