"Ill-intended lies", said an outraged Anushka Sharma, while a baffled selection panel member termed it "malicious" after former wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer claimed that the actor wife of India captain Virat Kohli sat with the selectors and was served tea by one of them during the World Cup this year.
Speaking to a newspaper, the 82-year-old Engineer, who played 46 Tests for India, ridiculed the credentials of India's five-member selection panel, led by MSK Prasad and comprising Sarandeep Singh and Jatin Paranjpe, Gagan Khoda and Devang Gandhi.
Engineer claimed that he saw one of these five men serve tea to Sharma during the World Cup in England but didn't name anyone.
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Anushka came across way more furious in her statement.
"...the latest version of these ill-intended lies is that I was being served tea by selectors at matches during the World Cup! I came to one game during the World Cup and sat in the family box and not the selectors box as reported but when has the truth mattered when it's about convenience!" she said.
"So, don't take this letter as my retort to this 'news'. Today, I have decided to speak up because someone's silence cannot be taken as their weakness. I am not and will not be a pawn to be used by anyone's thoughts or beliefs or agendas and next time you want to use my name to discredit someone or the board or even my husband, do it with facts and proof & leave me OUT of it. I have led my life, built my own career with utmost dignity and I am not going to compromise that for anything. Maybe, it's hard for some to believe that, because, I am a self-made, independent woman who only happens to be the wife of a cricketer. and for the record, I drink coffee'," she also added.
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Prasad, while speaking on behalf of his colleagues rubbished the allegations.
"During the World Cup, none of the selectors were sitting in the box where the Indian captain's wife sat and this is an absolutely rubbish, malicious and defamatory assertion," Prasad told PTI.
"I feel sad for someone deriving sadistic pleasure out of indulging in petty talk, thereby demeaning & disrespecting the selectors and wife of Indian captain through false and frivolous allegations," an angry Prasad added.
"Let's not forget that this selection committee has been appointed by BCCI through a proper process in an AGM," Prasad added.
