Indian team management had told BCCI they had lost trust in chief selector Chetan Sharma after he said players took injections to stay fit

These two comments in particular haven’t gone down well with the players, who reportedly felt it would be difficult ‘to establish communication’ with Sharma again.

“He (Sharma) sent his resignation to BCCI secretary and that has been accepted. Now, a new person will be appointed in his place,” BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla told The Indian Express in a text message.

According to BCCI sources, Sharma, who was in Kolkata with his colleagues Salil Ankola, Subroto Banerjee, S S Das and S Sharath for the Ranji Trophy final between Bengal and Saurashtra, sent his resignation on Friday morning. It was accepted immediately.

When contacted on Friday, Sharma didn’t wish to comment on his resignation.

Sources said BCCI officials initially felt that Sharma (57) was a victim of unethical conduct, but after the team management expressed reservations over his comments, his position became untenable. The players reportedly felt that Sharma has broken their trust by sharing such information.

Sharma also re-opened old wounds, especially regarding the captaincy switch, with his purported claims that Virat Kohli was looking to defame board president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

“Virat Kohli felt he lost the captaincy because of the BCCI president. There were nine people in the selection committee video conference, Ganguly told him ‘think about it once’. I think Kohli didn’t hear it, there were nine others there including myself and all other selectors, BCCI officials,” Sharma purportedly said, referring to Kohli conveying his decision to quit T20 captaincy in September 2021.

Alleging an ego clash between Ganguly and Kohli, Sharma purportedly said: “Two egos clashing, one who is thinking that Ganguly has removed me from the captaincy, so I will teach him a lesson. He (Kohli) gave a statement that Ganguly is doing this, basically to defame him. He (Kohli) tried to tell this in the media… which backfired on him (Kohli).”

On Kohli stepping down as Test captain in January 2022, Sharma purportedly said: “Don’t say that he (Ganguly) was favouring Rohit Sharma. You say that he (Ganguly) was not liking Virat Kohli.”

After the BCCI changed the entire selection panel following the T20 World Cup in November, Sharma was re-appointed in January. But, sources said, the manner in which Sharma spoke freely during the sting has not gone down well with a section of the board too. “It was just a matter of time. Once the players lost trust, it was always going to be difficult for Sharma to continue… Now with Sharma resigning, the issue has been put to bed,” said sources.

With Sharma resigning, Das, the most senior in terms of Test experience, will take charge at the next selection committee meeting to pick the squads for the last two Tests and ODIs against Australia.