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The Champions League T20 2013 will be held in India from September 17 to October 6 and there will be no team from England in the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Apr-2013The Champions League T20 2013 will be held in India from September 17 to October 6 and there will be no team from England in the tournament. The West Indian champions, who had to play Qualifiers in the last two editions, will feature in the main draw.The schedule, announced on Friday, has ten teams split in two groups, with the top two in each group making the semi-finals. Eight teams have been seeded directly into the main competition and will be joined by two of the four qualifiers.One of those qualifiers is the Pakistan side Faisalabad Wolves, who recently won the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup; their participation in the tournament will be interesting given the fragile diplomatic and sporting ties between India and Pakistan.Trinidad & Tobago find a place in the main draw, after sustained public pressure following strong performances in previous seasons. They had finished runners-up in the inaugural edition in 2009, but had to play the qualifying round in 2011 and 2012.The ECB’s announcement that no teams from England will take part in this year’s competition has opened up slots for other domestic teams.Group A: IPL 1st ranked team (India),Highveld Lions (South Africa),Perth Scorchers (Australia),IPL 3rd ranked team (India),Q1 (Qualifier)Group B: IPL 2nd ranked team (India),Titans (South Africa),Brisbane Heat (Australia),Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies),Q2 (Qualifier)Qualifier: IPL 4th ranked team (India),Otago Volts (New Zealand),Sri Lanka qualifier,Faisalabad Wolves (Pakistan)

Rajasthan Royals registered their eighth win in Jaipur beating Chennai Super Kings by five wickets and rose to No. 2 on the points table

The Report by Devashish Fuloria12-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsStuart Binny had a rapid 93-run stand with Shane Watson•BCCIAt the mid-innings break, Michael Hussey had thought the 141-run total put up by Chennai Super Kings was competitive because the pitch was aiding seam bowling, but he was wary of the “Watson factor”. In the end, it was Shane Watson who turned out to be the difference with a 34-ball 70, as Rajasthan Royals registered their eighth win in Jaipur – a cleansheet – and rose to No. 2 in the points table, behind the Super Kings only on net run rate.Royals had been left scarred by 10 overs of menacing bowling by the Super Kings’ seamers and were left looking at a mountain to climb. With 93 required off the last 10, and Rahul Dravid already back in the dugout, a way back looked difficult. Then Dhoni introduced R Ashwin in the 11th, and the match turned on its head. The third ball of the over was slog-swept by Stuart Binny and it just cleared Ravindra Jadeja at deep midwicket, but it was the fifth and the sixth deliveries that signalled the start of the onslaught. Watson swept both comfortably over the midwicket boundary, making it 23 runs of that over, Ashwin’s most expensive in all IPL. It was the first over of spin in the game.It seemed like a switch had been flicked on, and Dhoni’s immediate reaction to go back to his seamers in the next over didn’t really make a difference to the batsmen. Binny cut and flicked Morris for a couple of boundaries, and then Watson took over. He first drove the impressive Jason Holder for a six over long-off, then bludgeoned two of Dwayne Bravo’s next over. The switch in gears left everyone gobsmacked. Morris lost his line in the next over and was duly hit for four boundaries in all directions, the first of which brought Watson’s half-century, off just 25 balls. Royals scored 81 between overs 11 and 15. By the time Watson was dismissed, the job had been done. Binny finished the chase with six over long-off to remain unbeaten on 41.The start of the innings had been nothing like the finish. Royals were peppered with pace and bounce from the Super Kings fast bowlers and they struggled as MS Dhoni maintained pressure with slip fielders. It was only Dravid who seemed adept enough to handle the bowling, similar to how Michael Hussey had steered the first innings for Super Kings, but even he edged a lot.Royals, who had won five straight matches chasing, had asked Super Kings to bat on a spicy pitch and Hussey and Vijay played the initial period watchfully to thwart the bowlers, then raised the 11th half-century stand between them to set up a strong base for the hitters to follow. But Kevon Cooper struck twice to remove Suresh Raina and Dhoni, derailing the Super Kings’ innings and the pitch was too hot to handle for the rest. Had it not been for a brief cameo by Bravo, Super Kings would not have had a competitive total. In the end, however, Royals won with 17 balls to spare.

James Hildreth’s unbeaten century was ultimately in vain for Somerset as Middlesex snatched a four-wicket win in the last over at Lord’s.

04-Jun-2013
ScorecardDawid Malan fell one run short of a century but his innings was the mainstay of Middlesex’s chase•Getty ImagesJames Hildreth’s unbeaten century was ultimately in vain for Somerset as Middlesex snatched a four-wicket win in the last over at Lord’s. Dawid Malan fell a run short of a century in reply but, with a nerveless unbeaten 39 from 38 balls, Neil Dexter got the hosts got home under the lights at HQ.Bu they were made to sweat after Hildreth took 26 from the final over, bowled by James Harris, to reach 102 not out and set a defendable score of 247 for 7.Middlesex looked to be cruising at 159 for 1in the 24th over, after Malan had figured in stands of 71 and 88 with Paul Stirling and Joe Denly respectively, but a cool captain’s innings by Dexter was then required after the loss of four wickets for 26 runs in eight overs.Victory eventually arrived with five balls to spare as Dexter, Gareth Berg and Ollie Rayner, who ended a good match for him by pulling the winning boundary, dealt impressively with the pressure of having to score 55 from the last eight overs.Stirling had fallen for 27 when he speared his 24th ball straight to mid-off, but Denly included a six over long-on against Arul Suppiah in his 31 before he went for a rash big hit against Max Waller’s leg-spin and skied a catch to wicketkeeper Alex Barrow.Suddenly panic set in and Middlesex also lost Chris Rogers for 1, superbly caught low down by Marcus Trescothick diving to his right at first slip off Jamie Overton, who then trapped Adam Rossington leg before for 6 with a stunning yorker. When Malan drove wildly at Craig Meschede’s medium pace, and Barrow flung himself to his left to cling on to the edge, Somerset were right back in the game at 185 for 5 in the 31st over.But Dexter added 44 in combative fashion with Berg, until the latter skied a leading edge to long off to depart for 17, and Rayner also played well to finish on 12 not out. The win puts Middlesex into third place in Group C.Hildreth had earlier completed his hundred in spectacular style, hitting Harris for three successive sixes and two fours in the 40th over of the Somerset innings to boost the total.Before the explosive end to Hildreth’s superbly-paced 94-ball innings, which contained seven fours as well as those three sixes from the first three balls of the final over, it seemed that off-spinner Rayner’s fine eight-over spell of 3 for 31 had put Middlesex well on top.Somerset, who beat Middlesex by six wickets at Taunton a fortnight ago, were given a rollicking start by Trescothick and Peter Trego, who put on 73 before Rayner struck his first blow in the ninth over of their innings.Trescothick, having clubbed two sixes and four fours in 41 from 33 balls, was bowled middle stump as he propped forward defensively to one that straightened in Rayner’s opening over. Trego was well held for a 28-ball 35 by keeper Rossington, standing up to Harris’s fast-medium on a docile surface, and Rayner then had the out-of-form England Test batsman Nick Compton brilliantly held one-handed for six by a leaping Dexter at short midwicket.Dexter claimed a more straightforward catch when South Africa allrounder Dean Elgar chipped to short extra cover on 15, and only Hildreth stood firm as the Somerset slide continued as Barrow gave Stirling a simple return catch and Suppiah hit Tim Murtagh to extra cover.But from 187 for 6, Hildreth was joined by Meschede, who drove Toby Roland-Jones into the pavilion for six, in a resourceful stand of 32 before Hildreth’s own magnificent late assault on Harris.

Matthew Fisher became the youngest post-war county cricketer when he was picked for Yorkshire against Leicestershire aged just 15 years and 212 days.

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jun-2013Matthew Fisher became the youngest post-war county cricketer when he was picked for Yorkshire against Leicestershire aged just 15 years and 212 days.Yorkshire were forced to turn to Fisher for their Yorkshire Bank 40 fixture at Scarborough to deal with an injury crisis that saw four teenagers make up the bowling attack. Ryan Gibson, 17, Ben Coad, 18, and 19-year-old Wilf Rhodes were also in the XI.It highlighted Yorkshire’s problems. They were forced to field a threadbare bowling attack last Sunday against Gloucestershire. Tim Bresnan is with England, Liam Plunkett and Jack Brooks have been injured and the workload Ryan Sidebottom and Steven Patterson have been forced to endure in the Championship meant they needed resting.Mercifully, Plunkett, looking very old at 28, returned from a thigh strain to face Leicestershire. But he lined up alongside a team-mate 13 years his junior.Born in York, Fisher has developed through the Yorkshire age-group teams and plays for Yorkshire Academy in the Yorkshire Premier League, where his 25 overs this season have gone for 3.48 runs an over. He has also played for Yorkshire 2nd XI and took 6 for 25 earlier this week against Leicestershire – the second-best figures for Yorkshire in the 2nd XI trophy.”Matthew deserves his call up into the squad,” Yorkshire first-team coach Jason Gillespie said. “We monitor the progress of all our players and the feedback I have received on the way Matthew has been playing has been excellent. He is very young, but he has the ability to be successful.”The youngest player to appear in a first-class match also turned out for Yorkshire when wicketkeeper Barney Gibson played against Durham MCCU at the age of 15 years and 27 days in April 2011. The aptly-named Charles Young is the youngest everto appear in a county game, for Hampshire against Kent in 1867 aged 15 years and131 days.

South Africa captain AB de Villiers has said there is a “good chance” Dale Steyn will be in the playing XI for their semi-final against England on Wednesday

Firdose Moonda at The Oval18-Jun-2013South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn’s participation in the Champions Trophy semi-final against England is in some doubt due to fitness concerns. The team management will take a late call on his inclusion on the morning of the match on Wednesday.The fast bowler missed a day’s training and did a lighter than usual load on subsequent days because of “stiffness in the groin area” according to team manager Mohammed Moosajee. However, South Africa captain, AB de Villiers, was confident of Steyn’s inclusion in the playing XI on Wednesday.”It looks like we’ve got a good chance [of playing him tomorrow],” de Villiers said. “He’s taking another day off just to make sure we rest him really well. I said before that I don’t believe we’re lost without him. We can definitely beat England without him.”De Villiers conceded they are managing his workload as they have been playing a lot of cricket of late.”He’s got a few niggles around, which is very worrying, but we’re going to do all we can to get him on the park tomorrow,” he said. “He’s close to 100%, he’s running around. We didn’t want to run him too much today because we knew he’s one of the best in the world and he’s got the skill to just rock up and do the business. He’s working on his rehab making sure we give him the best chance to play tomorrow.”De Villiers discounted the fact that Steyn’s absence would be a big psychological factor and said the team has enough to do well without him, which they have in the past.”I don’t think it’s got anything to do with mental games, anything like that,” he said. “He’s good against any team in any format. We’re still a very good ODI unit. We’ve won games without him and with him. It’s a big knock-out game, and there will be a lot of pressure around, a lot of hype. Not having him on the side will be big for us, but then again, like I said, we’re playing good cricket.”In case Steyn is declared unfit on Wednesday morning, South Africa will have the option of bringing in an extra batsman and play with a seven-four combination for the first time in this Champions Trophy, or give another chance to left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso. They may also consider playing four seamers with one spinner.If Steyn is unavailable and South Africa still want to field four seamers, Rory Kleinveldt will be recalled to the starting XI. The other option would be to include Aaron Phangiso to give South Africa an additional tweaker or to bring in an extra batsman in Farhaan Behardien.Steyn was said to be struggling a little after their last league game against West Indies on Friday. Moosajee also confirmed that the new concern for Steyn’s fitness is not related to the side strain which kept him out of the first two matches against India and Pakistan.Steyn bowled six overs in a rain-affected match and finished with 2 for 33 from six overs in a tied game which secured South Africa’s place in the semi-final from Group B along with India. He has been under the careful watch of physiotherapist Brandon Jackson as South Africa hope to do all they can to ensure he plays.

South African cricket development received a long-awaited boost with the announcement of an initiative to take matches to areas that are traditionally untouched by cricket

Firdose Moonda16-Jul-2013South African cricket development received a long-awaited boost with the announcement of an initiative to take the game to areas which are not traditionally hosts of big matches. The eKasi tournament will be played annually for the next four years between Titans and Lions in a township selected out of one of the provinces. The inaugural 50-overs fixture will take place in Mamelodi on August 23 and broadcast live on pay-channel SuperSport.The Mamelodi Cricket Club is a historic but neglected venue that will benefit from a share of R130,000 (US$13,000) through this initiative. Both the Mamelodi and Soshanguve facilities will receive a revamp funded by ODI sponsors Momentum. The company will take a team of volunteers made up of its own staff members and Titans players, who will paint the club house and change room, re-tile the bathrooms and showers, and fix the windows on Mandela Day this Thursday.”When we asked our staff who would be interested in this project, we received 80 replies within 10 minutes,” Danie van den Bergh, head of brand at Momentum, said. “We want to do something meaningful, beyond the commercial stuff, and make a difference.”Playing professional cricket in previously disadvantaged areas has been identified by CSA as one way to promote transformation, although it has not been put into practice with any regularity. The Soweto Cricket Oval, in Johannesburg, was promoted as the most iconic of these venues and has hosted tour matches and warm-up games in the past. But it has not been used recently and was in a state of disrepair before the Gauteng Cricket Board worked to change that.Other grounds in places like the Western Cape’s Langa, Kwa-Zulu Natal Kwamashu and Eastern Cape’s Motherwell, have never hosted any high-profile fixtures, despite their thriving cricket culture. “We agree that there is a too little cricket played in the townships,” Naasei Appiah, CSA acting CEO said. “We know that impacts on people’s access to the game. For various socio-economic reasons, it is difficult for some people to come to the stadiums we use. We want to start readdressing the problem.”The now-upgraded Soweto Oval has already made a pitch to CSA to return to the calendar for warm-up matches, which is currently under consideration. Other grounds could have the same status, depending if CSA looks to widen its net, but Appiah acknowledged they need funding and interest from relevant sectors to add to their own investment in these areas.”Post the 2003 World Cup, we had a legacy project that saw 60 cricket fields being built in different areas, but these have not been looked after or maintained, and we have lost them to other sports,” he confessed. “We need to understand what we do when [we] put a cricket field down and maybe we need to hand them over to fully fledged clubs to run them.” The fields Appiah was referring to were left to the care of municipalities, which were disused during the off season, and then themselves used by other sports.With facilities being upgraded at existing clubs, Appiah is hopeful the funding that goes into cricket in development areas bears fruit. He also accepted that will happen if CSA show sustained interest, instead of only one-off events in townships as they have done in the past. The four-year commitment the Titans and Lions have made is the start of a longer-term initiative.Both camps are looking forward for the derby encounter which will form part of their preparation for the Champions League T20, which they are both involved in. “I played the last two years of my club cricket in Mamelodi so I know the field and place well,” Rob Walter, Titans coach said. “I’m very excited that we can use the match as part of our Champions League planning. It will be our first competitive outing and we need it to build our base for twenty-over cricket. There are certain phases in a fifty-over game that are T20 specific, like the first five-overs and death overs. We will field the best side we can for the match.”Internationals like AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Morne Morkel may not make an appearance, but the Titans have promised to give the crowd some big-names to watch. They will also play a warm-up against the Cape-Town based Cobras in Mamelodi, the week after their match against the Lions.

Nine individuals have been charged with various offences allegedly committed in violation of the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s anti-corruption code during the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2013Nine individuals have been charged with various offences allegedly committed in violation of the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s anti-corruption code during the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League, the ICC and the BCB announced on Tuesday. The charges, which followed an investigation carried out by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), relate to an alleged conspiracy within the Dhaka Gladiators franchise to engage in match-fixing and spot-fixing during the tournament, as well as failures by individuals to report approaches made to them to be involved in the conspiracy.The identities of the nine individuals charged will not be disclosed until the conclusion of the disciplinary proceedings.Of the nine, seven have been charged for fixing-related offences, while the remaining two have been charged for failing to report corrupt approaches. Those facing the more serious fixing-related charges have been provisionally suspended and have been immediately barred from participating in all cricket activities organised or recognised by the BCB, the ICC or of the ICC’s member associations, till the disciplinary proceedings brought against them are resolved.Those who plead guilty or who deny the charges but are later found guilty by an anti-corruption tribunal, which will be put together by the Bangladesh board, would be subject to the sanctions under article 6 of the BCB’s anti-corruption code, which includes a suspension of: (a) between five years up to a lifetime for the fixing offences, and (b) between one to five years for any failure to report a corrupt approach.Those charged now have 14 days to indicate whether they wish to plead guilty or to defend themselves in a full hearing, which would take place before the anti-corruption tribunal.”Considering the limited resources available to the ACSU and the limitations that apply to its ability to uncover sufficient evidence to disrupt conspiracies of this kind, I am pleased that this investigation has led us to this outcome,” ICC chief Dave Richardson said.”While we have charged some individuals with failing to report corrupt approaches that were made to them, it is important to stress that this investigation has also been built upon, among other things, evidence gathered from other individuals who not only rejected corrupt approaches made to them, but then did what they were supposed to do, and reported them to the ACSU.”The BCB president, Nazmul Hassan, said that those found guilty will be dealt with severely. “The BCB is committed to doing everything possible to defend it [Bangladesh cricket] against the very small group of people who are willing to compromise the values of the overwhelming majority for personal greed and, in so doing, bring disgrace upon themselves and their associates, as well as tarnishing the image of the game,” he said.

India and Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Sreesanth has been handed a life ban by the BCCI for his alleged involvement in spot-fixing in IPL 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2013India and Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Sreesanth has been handed a life ban by the BCCI for his involvement in spot-fixing in IPL 2013. His Royals team-mate and Mumbai spinner Ankeet Chavan was also banned for life, following the board’s disciplinary committee meeting in Delhi on Friday.Amit Singh, the Gujarat cricketer-turned-bookie, got a five-year ban, while Saurashtra and Royals seamer Siddharth Trivedi was suspended for a year for not reporting an approach among other things. Twenty-one-year-old Harmeet Singh, who was part of India’s Under-19 World Cup winning team in 2012 and had a similar charge against him as Trivedi, has been cleared of wrongdoing due to a lack of evidence against him.There has been no ruling as yet on offspinner Ajit Chandila, the third Royals player who was arrested in May, since he is yet to be questioned by Ravi Sawani, who led the BCCI’s probe into the matter and whose report formed the basis for the board’s actions. Save for a few days when Chandila was out on bail due to a death in the family, he has been in police or judicial custody since his arrest on May 16, meaning Sawani could not speak to him. However, he was granted bail on September 9, so his case should come up soon. Sreesanth and Chavan were out on bail since June 11.While Trivedi is banned from playing any BCCI-organised cricket, the other three are banned from playing any such cricket or in any way being associated with activities of the Indian board or its affiliates. The penalties were decided upon by the disciplinary committee, comprising board president N Srinivasan and vice-presidents Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah. The ban means Trivedi will have to be replaced in Royals’ squad for the Champions League T20, which begins on September 21.Sreesanth tweeted soon after the news of his ban broke, saying he found it “surprising”. “Been tracking the news channels… Me getting a life ban??!! Very surprising,” he said. The tweet was deleted soon after.The Sawani report had recommended bans ranging from five years to life for the four players it found guilty on multiple accounts, including “match-fixing” and “seeking or offering a bribe as a reward for match-fixing”, the reported earlier in the day.Despite Sreesanth’s “surprise”, a BCCI insider revealed the committee was unanimous in handing him a life ban, with the intention of sending out a message. Amit Singh, the source said, benefitted from the fact that he wasn’t involved in IPL 2013 as a player. “Moreover, even though he has introduced players to bookies, it has been established that he hasn’t played any direct part in fixing. However, since he is a registered player with BCCI, he falls in the ambit of the BCCI ACSU code. As a result, five years was sought to be a suitable punishment,” the source said.However, the committee overruled Sawani’s guilty ruling on Harmeet Singh, its sole divergence from the recommendations. Harmeet was given benefit of doubt. Since he was coerced into a solitary meeting, reported it to the Rajasthan Royals team management and ACSU immediately after Chandila’s arrest and then co-operated with the police, it was felt it would be too harsh to spoil a youngster’s career.The disciplinary committee’s task was made relatively easy by the tough tone of the final report, which said none of the players were naive to the propositions of manipulation.”There is no specific mitigating factor that would require any mercy while sanctioning the aforesaid guilty players,” Sawani said in the report. “Sreesanth has played a number of international games and was part of the Indian national team which won the inaugural T20 World Cup, 2007 and ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011. He has received the ICC ACSU education programme on many occasions. In any case all the three players of Rajasthan Royals who are now being accused and found guilty by the under-signed received the ICC Education Programme just prior to the beginning of the IPL-6 season i.e. on April 5, 2013. The programme was delivered to the entire Rajasthan Royals team by Mr Arrie De Bear, regional security manager of the ICC ACSU.”Obviously, the anti-corruption education given to the three players had no impact on the conduct. Therefore, the three players deserve no leniency whatsoever.”The players, minus Chandila, were summoned by the board to present their case in the disciplinary committee meeting in Delhi.Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila were arrested by Delhi Police on May 16 in Mumbai, for the alleged fulfilling of promises made to bookmakers, along with eleven bookies including Amit Singh. Royals later suspended their players and the BCCI set up an inquiry into the matter, headed by its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chief Sawani. Apart from the action taken by the board, the players face possible prison sentences should they be found guilty in a court of law. They were among 39 persons named in the Delhi Police’s chargesheet on alleged corruption in the IPL in July, charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonesty under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

The legal wrangle ahead of what is expected to be an interesting BCCI annual general meeting (AGM) continued on Monday, with developments in two separate court cases

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2013The legal wrangle ahead of what is expected to be an interesting BCCI annual general meeting (AGM) continued on Monday, with developments in two separate court cases. While the BCCI has challenged an order restraining it from holding its special general meeting (SGM) on September 25 to decide the fate of former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) secretary Aditya Verma has moved the Supreme Court, pleading that BCCI president N Srinivasan not be allowed to contest the board’s election.A Delhi trial court had issued an order on September 21, barring the BCCI’s SGM on Wednesday, and expectedly the board has now moved the Delhi High Court. Even though the lower court had stayed the SGM, it had declined to pass an order on Modi questioning the appointment of Sanjay Patel and Jagmohan Dalmiya as BCCI’s secretary and head of day to day affairs, respectively, by president N Srinivasan who had stepped aside in the wake of IPL spot-fixing scandal.After hearing the BCCI’s argument against the trial court’s order, which was based on the court having no jurisdiction to pass the same, Justice VK Shail decided to continue the hearing on Tuesday and also hear Modi’s cross petition against the appointment of Patel and Dalmiya.Senior advocate CA Sundaram, on behalf of the BCCI, told the judge that since the SGM was slated to be held in Chennai, a trial court in Delhi could not pass an order staying it. “The Delhi court has no jurisdiction to pass such an order as the BCCI headquarters is in Mumbai and SGM was to be held in Chennai where Srinivansan resides. Just because the disciplinary committee meeting [which found Modi guilty on eight different charges] was held in Delhi, Modi has approached the city court,” Sundaram was quoted as saying by . “In the SGM, the report of the disciplinary committee will be considered and if the report will be accepted, then a show cause notice will be issued to Modi to make his defence.”Even if the High Court gives the go-ahead for the BCCI to conduct the SGM on Wednesday, the BCCI camp is expecting Modi to move Supreme Court in what is believed to be “delaying tactics”.In the other case, CAB secretary Verma moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking an interim injunction against Srinivasan from contesting the BCCI election pending the verdict on the special leave petition (SLP) filed by Verma against the BCCI. The Supreme Court, on September 12, had run out of time and hence failed to hear the SLP where the BCCI lawyers were expected to enter final arguments against the CAB petition that had challenged the Bombay High Court order for failing to appoint a fresh probe panel to investigate corruption in the IPL despite ruling the BCCI probe panel was constituted illegally.On Monday, Verma, through his counsel Gagan Gupta, entered a prayer in the Supreme Court asking it to restrain Srinivasan from not only standing for the BCCI president’s polls (scheduled to be held during the board’s AGM on September 29) but also bar him from being part of any of the board’s committees. The court is expected to give a date of hearing on Tuesday.The Bombay High Court had pointed out in its order that Srinivasan had “prima facie” a hand in the appointment of the two-man probe panel that had cleared the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals of corruption charges. The High Court had called the finding “illegal”. The BCCI had filed its own SLP challenging that order. The Supreme Court is yet to announce the next date hearing for this.The main reason behind the BCCI’s SLP was to erase the black mark on Srinivasan left by the High Court order. Lawyers on both sides confirmed that Srinivasan was free to attend the BCCI AGM as well as stand for the president’s elections despite the CAB petition.The significance of the CAB prayer cannot be determined at this stage. Verma’s intention from the beginning has been to restrain Srinivasan from performing his BCCI duties till the courts conclusively clear him of all allegations.

Subrota Roy, the chairman of Sahara India, has questioned the BCCI’s credibility after their decision to oust Pune Warriors from the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2013Subrata Roy, the chairman of Sahara India, has criticised the BCCI over its different standards in dealing with IPL franchises and said he felt “betrayed” by the board’s decision to terminate the IPL franchise Pune Warriors – owned by Roy – for failing to pay their bank guarantee for the 2014 season. He cited the case of Gurunath Meiyappan and the Chennai Super Kings franchise, who were cleared of any involvement in corrupt activities, though Gurunath was charged by the Mumbai Police with allegations of betting.”If the chief of any institution can create and allow such bad example like that of Gurunath, how can a body function independently? Had Gurunath been an owner or principal of some other team, what would have happened to that team?” Roy told the . “After this example, BCCI has lost the right to take action against anyone. Their whims and fancies are more important to them than anything else.”Sahara had threatened to pull out of the IPL last year, barely an hour before the auction. The main point of contention has been the franchise fee, which was negotiated for 18 matches per team in the league stage. However the minimum number of matches was reduced to 16, after which Sahara sought to resolve the matter through arbitration. Even though the BCCI and Sahara agreed to the arbitration, no further steps were taken after the parties failed to agree over who would oversee the abitration.In March this year, Sahara was required to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 170.2 crore for IPL 2014. The franchise had defaulted on 70% of the payment last season and had its bank guarantee encashed by the BCCI in May. Subsequently, Sahara announced its decision to pull out of the IPL, detailing its concerns against the board, and also stated its intentions to withdraw sponsorship of the national cricket team.”They have false egos and high-handedness and the Board will realise how big a financial loss it is suffering after Sahara pulls out of team sponsorship”, Roy said. “I don’t think any corporate would be interested to pay so much money to cricket at a time when there is so much of ego in the cricket bosses.”The decision to oust Pune Warriors from the IPL was taken at the BCCI working committee meeting in Chennai on October 26, but Roy felt such drastic measures were unnecessary. “I felt betrayed,” he said. “Had they sat across the table, we would have continued with the Indian team sponsorship.”