A day after leaving Mahendra Singh Dhoni out of the Duleep squad on grounds that his availability couldnt be confirmed,the East Zone selection committee did a volte-face on Sunday,with its chief saying that the Indian captain was welcome to join the team but wouldve to play under Shib Sundar Das. The committee didnt name Dhoni in the squad after the wicketkeeper-batsman,whos holidaying in Coorg,Karnataka,reportedly didnt respond to chief selector Raja Venkats phone call or text message. Please dont make an issue out of it, said Venkat. Maybe,his mobile was not working. He is most welcome to join the squad any time he likes. In that case,he will be included as an additional member and will play under Shib Sundar Das. As per the BCCI rules,its mandatory for the national team cricketers to play domestic cricket when they are not representing India. And a player is considered available unless hes informed the board otherwise. So,why was Dhoni,who is fit and hasnt informed the BCCI about his unavailability,left out in the first place? Assam Cricket Association secretary Bikash Baruah was the convener of the meeting. We asked him what his stand was. He gave us the go-ahead to pick a team without Dhoni, said Venkat who is yet to get in touch with the selector.
