BCCI asks Vengsarkar to explain newspaper column

India's chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar arrives for the selection committee meeting at the head office of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Mumbai September 18, 2007. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe/Files

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar will be asked to explain why he is defying orders to stop writing his newspaper column, a senior Indian board official said on Thursday.

Vengsarkar's syndicated column, which appears in a leading English language newspaper, was at the centre of controversy this month as it gave exclusivity to the publication and was marketed by a company which represents several India players, including one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

However, Vengsarkar, a former India captain, continues to write in the papers.

"We will be issuing him a show cause notice as he is continuing to write despite the board having drawn his attention and given a guideline not to write," board secretary Niranjan Shah told Reuters.

The board has also gagged the Indian players for the current series against Pakistan after an acrimonious series against Australia last month in which several of them made inflammatory statements in the media.