Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar has revealed that his decision to include Virat Kohli in 2008 in the Indian squad ahead of Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath, led to an unfortunate end of his tenure as the Chief selector of the BCCI’s national selection committee.

Speaking at the sidelines of an event in Mumbai, Vengsarkar described how he was keen to hand Kohli a debut after spotting his talent at the U-19 World Cup and later in the Emerging Players tour to Australia. However, former Indian coach Gary Kirsten and ex-India captain MS Dhoni were not convinced.

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Recalling those time, Vengsarkar said, “There was an Emerging Players tour to Australia. The selection committee decided to include only U-23 players for this tour. That year, we had won the U-19 World Cup as well and Virat Kohli was captain of that team. We included him in the Emerging Players team. I had gone to Brisbane to see those matches.”

He further added, “Virat opened the innings against West Indies who had a few Test cricketers in their ranks, but we had none and in that match, Virat scored 123 not out. I felt that we should play this guy in the Indian team. I felt this was an ideal situation to include Kohli in the squad. Although the other four selectors agreed with my decision, Gary Kirsten and MS Dhoni were reluctant as they had not seen much of Kohli. I told them that I have seen him and we have to include him in the team.”

Describing why the debate between Badrinath and Virat occurred, the Dilip said, “I knew that they were keen on keeping S Badrinath in the team because he was a Chennai Super Kings player. If Kohli would have come in, Badrinath would have been dropped. N Srinivasan was the BCCI treasurer at that time. He was upset that Badrinath was dropped because he was their player.”

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As quoted in TOI, legendary cricketer said, “Srinivasan asked me on what basis Badrinath was axed, and I explained that I had been on the Emerging Players tour to Australia where I saw Virat, who is an exceptional player and that is why he is in the team. He argued that Badrinath has scored over 800 runs for Tamil Nadu. I told him that he will get his chance.”

Apparently, Srinivasan then asked Dilip when would Badrinath get a chance, to which Vengsarkar replied by saying, “I can’t tell you when. The very next day, he (Srinivasan) took (Kris) Srikkanth, who later succeeded Vengasarkar as chief selector, to Sharad Pawar, who was the (BCCI) president then and that was the end of my selection tenure.”