‘Come to my place at night’: DDCA official told junior player’s mother, says Arvind Kejriwal

In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Kejriwal alleged that an official in DDCA had asked a woman to “come at night” if she wanted her son to be selected for a Delhi team.

THE DELHI and District Cricket Association mess got murkier today with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleging in a television interview that a DDCA official had texted the mother of a junior cricketer to “come to my place at night” for her son to be selected.

In an interview to NDTV, Kejriwal claimed that the mother is the wife of a senior journalist, whose son was in contention for one of Delhi’s junior teams. The journalist was ready to depose before the Delhi government’s Commission of Inquiry about selection irregularities in the DDCA, Kejriwal said.

“A very senior journalist called me on the phone who is a very good friend of yours,” Kejriwal said. “His son plays cricket. He told me… he got a call that his son was selected. In the evening, when the list came, his name was not there. Can you believe that the next day, the journalist’s wife got an SMS that you come to my (official’s) place at night, your son’s selection will be done.

Last month, the DDCA had picked the Under-14 and Under-16 squads after holding selection trials for over 1,000 junior cricketers. “Since there are no leagues for under-14 and even the school cricket circuit hasn’t evolved in DDCA, teams are decided after open trials,” a DDCA official said. Allegations of age-group team selections not being based on merit have been levelled against DDCA selectors in the past but never been substantiated.