DDCA Mess: Delhi U-23 aspirant assaults former India pacer Bhandari

Former India pacer Amit Bhandari, who is chairman of the DDCA senior selection committee, was on Monday assaulted by a group of unidentified men, led by a rejected U-23 player, during the Delhi senior team's practice game at the St Stephen's ground.

The senior team is gearing up for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (National Twenty20 tournament), starting February 21.

Bhandari sustained head and ear injuries and was taken to Sant Paramanand Hospital at Civil Lines by his colleague Sukhvinder Singh. The goons along with the player in question fled before the cops could reach the spot.

"We are looking into the matter and a case will be registered after recording the statement of the victim," Nupur Prasad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) said.

It has been learnt that Bhandari has alleged that an U-23 state team aspirant Anuj Dedha was behind the attack after being rejected for the National (U-23) One-dayers.

"This boy Anuj was pestering Bhandari for some time and he was clearly told that he is not good enough. And today, his hired goons stopped senior team's training session and assaulted Bhandari," an eye witness told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Dedha's name featured in the initial 79-member list, released by the DDCA in November for the U-23 trials. As per the probables list accessed by PTI, his date of birth is November 22, 1995.

Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rajat Sharma told PTI that guilty will not be spared.

"I have personally spoken to the Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik. The guilty will not go unpunished. We will register an FIR," Sharma said.

Sharma, who went to meet Bhandari at the hospital said, "He is very shaken and it is natural. The doctors have advised that he should be kept under observation for 24 hours as a precautionary measure."
"To begin with I am calling for a life ban for the player who, orchestrated this attack post his non-selection."
"When the other senior team players attending the trials along with us rushed to save Bhandari, they started threatening us and one of them said, "Don't get into this or else we will shoot you."
When asked who could be behind the attack, Saini said, "I was not there when these two guys came and spoke with Bhandari. He is obviously rattled and once he gives his statement to the police, we will get to know more."