No rift in Team India, says BCCI

The BCCI on Wednesday sought to scotch the intense speculation of a rift in the Indian cricket team in Australia with its President N Srinivasan calling such media reports "exaggerated".

As reports of a rift gathered more steam in the media, Srinivasan said that he had checked with the media manager and the Board had nothing to be concerned about.

"You have no knowledge of it. I don't think there is any rift in the team. There is nothing to be concerned about," Srinivasan told reporters after a meeting of the IPL Governing Council here.

"They were responding to such questions in a press conference. It happens after every match. I have spoken to media manager there. I think the reports are exaggerated," he said.

BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla also refuted reports of a rift in the team.

"Sehwag has been misquoted. That's what we came to understand. There is no rift in the team. It is only a speculation by a section of media. I don't think there is any problem. BCCI is in constant touch with the team," Shukla said.

Pressed on the rotation policy, which has generated a heated debate, Shukla said,"Playing XI (is) decided by tour management consisting of mananger, captain and coach."

The Indian camp has been jostling with speculations of a rift in the team since Dhoni said that top-order batsmen - Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir - were being rotated and not played together in the ongoing series as they were 'slow fielders' who could cost the team 20 runs.

However, Sehwag, who was the stand-in-captain for Tuesday's game against Sri Lanka due to regular skipper MS Dhoni serving a one match ban for slow over-rate, said that neither he nor any of the senior players had been told that their fielding was an issue.

"I did not know what he (Dhoni) said and what's going on in media. He told us he wanted to give chance to youngsters who had come here and play the next World Cup. That's what he told us," said Sehwag.

The opener, who took a brilliant catch in Tuesday's game against Sri Lanka, also retorted that their fielding had been the same since a decade.

"Have you seen my catch?" snapped back Sehwag, adding "we have been fielding the same way for the last 10 years."

(With PTI Inputs)