Patil and Mongia hit out against Indian board

Sandeep Patil, the former India coach, and Dinesh Mongia, the former India batsman, have cited ill-treatment by the Indian board and the selectors respectively as reasons for their decision to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Patil said he was given "false assurances" of being made the India A coach but, eventually, nothing materialised. "I still have a copy of the e-mail that I was asked to send by Sharad Pawar [the president of the BCCI] expressing my willingness to be India A team's coach. Nothing moved after that," Patil told the Times of India. In fact, once Pawar called Ratnakar Shetty [the chief administrative officer of BCCI] and secretary Niranjan Shah in my presence, telling them to make my appointment, yet nothing materialised."

Mongia blamed the selectors for not giving him a proper run and said he was dropped despite some good performances. "Before the World Cup, I was given a break against Australia in Malaysia where I scored 63 not out. But after that I was dropped," Mongia told the Indian Express. "I think I was dropped because I was scoring runs or I played well, that is the signal I got".

"Later too, I got a chance against Australia [in the Champions Trophy], where I failed. I did tour South Africa, played in Durban, where I disappointed, but everybody else also failed. Later I played in the Twenty20 game and was instrumental in winning the match against South Africa , and again the same old story: I was dropped."

Mongia did play in the 5th ODI against South Africa, two days after that Twenty20 game, and scored an 89-ball 41. He later made a comeback in the tour of Bangladesh and made 17 runs in each of the two ODI games that he played.

"If you see a team like Australia, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and Michael Hussey, they all are treated as equals," Mongia said. "It's the performance that matters there, not the name. One thing has be to understood, when you are the boss, you have to give due importance to everybody. You can't just concentrate on the big names and ignore the lesser players."