Meeting Leak - Disgusting and Disrespectful - Dhoni

Dhoni denied the report by the Bengal Daily and also by the news channels about a rift between him and the selectors over the omission of RP Singh, his close friend from the India team for the next 2 ODIs.

The Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika reported that Dhoni was not happy with the selectors for dropping RP Singh and including Irfan Pathan. The paper further said that Dhoni threatened to quit the captaincy over this issue.

Dhoni, however denied the allegations but said that leak of the meeting is disgusting and disrespectful. He described the leak as "disgusting and disrespectful" the fact that matters discussed in selection meetings are leaked and reported in the media.

The Indian selectors chose Irfan Pathan over RP Singh, for the next two ODIs. I don't know where the report came from. What happens inside a meeting where the selectors, the captain and the coaches are there, when it comes out it is disgusting and disrespectful," Dhoni said, after India's training session at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. "Things like this should not be happening. I'm not saying something happened at the meeting, but over the years we have seen things being leaked from meetings."

"This is the pinnacle of the sport. We are selecting 15 guys for the Indian team," said Dhoni. "There will be debates inside, and that information should not be put out in the media. If it is meant to come out, then I can say we might as well have the whole meeting telecast live on television. Nobody knows what was discussed except the eight guys in the meeting. And only they know whether it's the truth or not."

There might be a scenario where all of a sudden we might want to get in touch with RP Singh and Irfan Pathan. And you don't want RP to feel that I will go out of the way and stand and defend him and Irfan should not feel I don't want him in the team. I will stand and defend both these players and both of them trust me. My talks with them went off well."

"We have an important match coming up, and we chose instead to focus on that match," he said. "This is a selection thing and personally I don't discuss anything outside. To some extent it does distract us. The good part is that we trust each other - every player in the team trusts the other."

"We do not have players in this team with outstanding talent, which can win every game. But as a team we are outstanding. So for us the mantra is being a team, and these things will not break the trust we have in each other. It's important for us to be a team."