BCCI Threatens To Cancel India vs England Test In Rajkot Tomorrow
NEW DELHI : The Indian cricket board BCCI has told that the Supreme Court that if the Lodha Committee does not release funds, the first Test match to be played from tomorrow between India and England in Gujarat’s Rajkot will have to be cancelled.
The court is likely to hear the board’s plea this afternoon. Chief Justice TS Thakur, who has been busy since morning with other matters, will be consulted during lunch before a decision is taken, judges said “If funds are not released there won’t be a cricket match tomorrow and it may be cancelled,” BCCI lawyer Kapil Sibal told the court this morning.
The Supreme Court had last month ruled that disbursal of funds to state associations would be on hold till BCCI president Anurag Thakur and the state associations promise to implement reforms proposed by the Lodha Committee it had appointed.
Counsel for the Lodha panel Gopal Subramaniam has argued that the BCCI or Board of Control for Cricket in India is in breach of the court’s order of October 21. He said funds can’t be released till the BCCI and state boards comply with the changes proposed by the Lodha Commiteee and endorsed by the top court.
“Even if we (BCCI) are in breach of the court’s directions, let Lodha Committee disburse the funds,” Mr Sibal has pleaded.The Rajkot Test is being organised by the Saurashtra Cricket Association.
Both the Indian and the English team are already in Rajkot for the first test. The two countries will play five tests and also an ODI series.
Earlier, the apex court had made it clear that there will be no disposal of funds to the state cricket bodies till they file an undertaking that they would comply with the recommendations of the Lodha panel on reforms in cricket in the country.
The court had also ordered that no further amount should be disbursed to state associations by BCCI, except where the State Association concerned passes a resolution saying it is agreeable to undertake and support the reforms as proposed and accepted by this Court in letter and spirit.
The apex court had said the 13 State Associations, to whom the payment has already been disbursed, shall not appropriate the amount, except after they have passed a resolution to abide by reforms suggested.
The Lodha Committee headed by former Chief Justice RM Lodha was appointed by the Supreme Court after the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal surfaced to suggest reforms in the way the BCCI, the world’s richest cricket body, functions.ndtv.
