Samant faces axe, MCA to review Mumbai's futile season

The apex council of the MCA has decided to take a full stock of Mumbai’s mediocre season next week and accordingly a decision on coach Vinayak Samant’s future will be made.

Aditya Tare with coach Vinayak Samant during a training session at the Wankhede Stadium.

The apex council of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has decided to wait till the end of Mumbai’s miserable season before reviewing its senior team’s head coach Vinayak Samant’s future.

With the Mumbai team ending a futile season, finishing without a trophy and not qualifying for the Ranji Trophy knockouts for the second season in succession, a couple of apex council members broached the topic despite the item not being on the agenda.

It was discussed whether Samant, who was appointed as a last-minute resort and whose appointment had been questioned by a group of senior players mid-season, should be relieved immediately after the season-ending Ranji Trophy game against Madhya Pradesh, starting at Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, or his contract until May 31 should be respected.

It was then decided that the apex council would take a full stock of Mumbai’s mediocre season next week and accordingly a decision on Samant’s future will be made.

On the other hand, the apex council accepted Mumbai Women’s head coach Jayesh Dadarkar’s resignation. A group of senior team members had filed a complaint against Dadarkar, alleging the coach of handing preferential treatment to a set of players. A disciplinary committee had been constituted and had heard the coach last week.

Disgruntled with the treatment meted out to him, Dadarkar had submitted his resignation letter but in a written response to the disciplinary panel had expressed his desire to continue his four-year association as the women’s head coach. But the apex council decided to accept Dadarkar’s resignation.

Meanwhile, a communication by all the eight franchises of T20 Mumbai was tabled before the apex council. Sportstar understands that all the team owners had asked for Probability Sports Pvt. Ltd. - a private firm to whom the MCA has outsourced the T20 league - to be kept away from the T20 league. Instead, the owners desired to deal directly with MCA.

However, with the MCA having signed a five-year deal with Probability Sports till 2023, the matter was put on the backburner.