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MUMBAI: Expressing "pain" after new Team India head coach Ravi Shastri hinted in his interview to TOI on Thursday that the appointment of Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan was forced upon him, the high-profile Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Sachin Tendulkar Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman , sent a letter to the chief of Committee of Administrators (COA) Vinod Rai and BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary , asking them to clear the air on the issue.TOI had reported that the CoA was upset about the CAC going beyond its brief in appointing Dravid and Zaheer as consultants when their mandate was only to select the head coach. "We spoke to Mr Shastri about getting Mr Khan and Mr Dravid on board in these capacities, and he readily agreed to the idea of having them in the set-up so that it would benefit the team and Indian cricket as a whole in time to come. It was only after getting Mr Shastri's consent that we also recommended Mr Khan and Mr Dravid, in their respective capacities," says the mail, a copy of which is with TOI.Clearly angry with the way things have played out in the media, the legendary trio wrote: "There have been suggestions that the CAC has exceeded its ambit in going with Mr Khan and Mr Dravid and these two legends of Indian cricket have been foisted on the head coach... we did inform you (Rai) over the phone along with Rahul Johri and Amitabh Choudhary of all that transpired immediately after the meeting was over."When asked about this mail, Gamguly told TOI from Kolkata on Thursday evening: "Yes. All three of us have sent this mail." When asked whether it was this mail which had prompted Rai to clarify the CAC's stand in this regard, Ganguly replied: " Yes."Ganguly revealed that he and his former India teammates took this step because they were 'hurt' at the perception that the CAC had "foisted the support staff " on the team, "which isn't the case"."We'd spoken to everyone, including Ravi and Virat, before making these appointments," he stressed.In the mail, CAC members have expressed their anguish right at the start. "You will be aware that we put our heart and soul into the process, approaching a task made delicate by the recent developments with a clear head and with sole aim of providing Indian team with best resources possible to become world beaters they are capable of being. It has both pained and disappointed us, therefore, to see the light in which the CAC has been portrayed in the media," the letter reads.The 'deeply hurt' cricketers then urged Rai to "come public" with how transparent the process of picking the new coach was.The letter ends on a strong note. "The three of us played our cricket with great integrity, and we have brought that same trait in fulfilling this important responsibility bestowed upon us by the BCCI. While we are not looking for plaudits, we do not appreciate the tone and the falsehoods of the narratives."