New Delhi: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) treasurer Arun Dhumal has clarified that the board has no role in deciding the menu of the Indian cricket team and players can choose to eat whatever they want. are free to. His remarks come after the latest controversy that has made headlines over the team's new diet plan for the Kanpur Test. Earlier it was reported that the board had asked the players not to eat pork or beef in their new diet plan for the first match of the series against New Zealand. It was also said that players consume only halal meat. This created an uproar on social media and fans criticized the BCCI for deciding the food choices of the players. In such a situation, some fans also took a dig at the Board of Control for Cricket in India for promoting Halal Meat Controversy.
After this uproar ahead of the India vs New Zealand Test series, now BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal said in an interview to India Today, "This (diet plan) was never discussed nor will it be implemented. I don't know when this decision was taken or not. As far as I know, we have never issued any guidelines regarding diet plan. As far as the food is concerned, it is the personal choice of the players, BCCI has no role in it.”
He further said, "This 'halal' thing must have happened at some point of time on the feedback of a player. For example, if a player says that he does not eat beef and if a foreign team comes, the food should not be mixed. This Halal issue was never brought to the notice of BCCI. BCCI does not advise any of its players on what to eat and what not. Players are free to choose their own food. They want to be vegetarian, it's their choice, they want to be vegan, it's their choice, they want to be non-vegetarian, it's their choice."
Sharing diet plans is nothing new. Before a match, teams often share their security, logistics requests with the host board. It also includes a diet plan- a specific list of foods a team likes. BCCI usually requests for Halal meat on foreign travel.
