The selection meeting called on Monday to name a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan, who has been ruled out of the tournament because of a finger injury, failed to pencil in a name. Chairman of selectors Chetan Chauhan wanted to send Parvesh Chikhara, a fast bowler to take Dhawan’s place in the squad, but the other selectors in the panel — Bantoo Singh, Nikhil Chopra, Rajkumar Sharma and Anil Jain — were in favour of a batsman to replace the opener.

On finding that he was the only one in favour of the bowler, Chauhan walked out of the meeting, calling it a ‘blatant farce’. “We are not sending any replacements,” said sports secretary Sunil Dev after the meeting.

The lack of consensus and co-ordination among the selectors has been the bane of Delhi cricket for long, and once again, the latest tiff has brought the rancour in the panel out in the open.

Chauhan’s reasoning, though, seems had some weight. Delhi already have two batsmen in Gaurav Chhabra and Vartik Tihara with the squad, who are yet to feature in any of the games. Sending another batsman as replacement would have been a luxury the team can ill afford.

Besides, fast bowlers Parvinder Awana and Pradeep Sangwan have taken a beating in the matches so far and sending a fast bowler or at least an all-rounder would have given the team management another option. But the reasoning does not seem to make sense to the other selectors.

“The wickets there are not helping our fast bowlers — it is the batsmen who will win you games on those flat tracks. Sending a bowler was asking for a little too much,” said