BCCI bars Pakistani players from IPL

By Abhishek Manroa

NEW DELHI, India (TheSportsNEXT) December 6, 2012: Bilateral cricket ties between bitter neighbors Pakistan and India may be reviving but the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) is not ready to have Pakistani cricketers in its cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL).

According to local media reports, the IPL Governing Council has ordered the franchises not to pick Pakistani players in the auction to be held in January.

Pakistani players participated in the inaugural edition of IPL but since then they have been put out of the event. Sohail Tanvir was declared Bowler of the IPL-I while Shahid Afridi was one of the most popular cricketers in the event.

Officially the matter of including or not including Pakistani players in the upcoming edition of the IPL has been postponed till the next meeting of the IPL Governing Council which includes its chairman Rajiv Shukla, Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shastri, Anirudh Chaudhary, and MP Pandove.

Since playing the first edition, Pakistani players have been refused to participate in the cash-rich league and only former Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mahmood was part of the Kings XI Punjab but only as a British national.

The latest development may shock a number of Pakistani players who were hoping to be part of the IPL riches this season. Most of the Pakistani cricketers including Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohail Tanvir, and others have reportedly talked about playing the IPL in great enthusiasm.

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Pataudi Trophy not for any individual: MCC

By Bipin Dani

MUMBAI, India (TheSportsNEXT) November 9, 2012: It is not clear whether the actress Sharmila Tagore wanted the upcoming India-England series be named after her late husband (Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi) or her late father-in-law Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan of Pataudi.

However, the series played between the two nations last year was played in honour of both Tiger Pataudi and his father. This was revealed by Neil Robinson, the Research Officer at Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Lord's.

Interestingly, the trophy was initiated not by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), as widely believed, but the MCC.

Speaking exclusively with TheSportsNEXT.com, Neil Robinson said, "The Pataudi Trophy was so named (by MCC’s Arts & Library sub-committee) in honour of both Tiger Pataudi and his father, given the fact that both were significant cricketing figures in both England and India".

Indian statistician, Sudhir Vaidya pointed out, "The Wisden 2012 writes in their preview on the India in England, 2011 on page 303 ‘In fact, the one Indian on show who looked truly distraught was Tiger Pataudi, whose final public duty before his death a month later was to hand over the trophy that has borne his family name since 2007’”.

"It means that the Trophy for the family and neither for any individual nor senior or junior. And it was floated by MCC unilaterally and not by either of the Boards", Vaidya further added.

"The presentation of trophies is largely a matter for ECB, but as far as I am aware the Pataudi Trophy will continue to be presented at the conclusion of every Test series in which England plays host to India", the MCC official concluded.

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BCCI gets home ministry clearance for Pakistan tour

By Abhishek Manroa

NEW DELHI, India (TheSportsNEXT) October 31, 2012: The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) said Tuesday that it has received clearance from India’s home ministry regarding Pakistan’s upcoming high-profile tour to India.

The BCCI and Indian home ministry officials held a meeting on Tuesday where the green signal was awarded to the most-anticipated series in the cricket world.

After the official go-ahead the Pakistan cricket team will play three One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals in India in December. Pakistani cricketers will arrive here on December 22.

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Mohinder Amarnath admires Cricket Australia's transparent AGM

By Bipin Dani

MUMBAI, India (TheSportsNEXT) October 26, 2012: Australia may have been the first cricketing nation, whose Annual General Meeting (AGM) was shown live on TV yesterday.

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Had the Indian cricket board been so transparent, the people in India would have known why and how Mohinder Amarnath was replaced as a selector in the last AGM. Amarnath, when approached for his comments sent an SMS saying: “I admire CA. Great".

"All proceedings today were conducted in an open forum, including the vote to amend CA’s constitution and by-laws and elect our first fully independent Directors. All media were invited to attend and report on all aspects of the meeting", Matthew Slade, the Cricket Australia's Corporate Communications Manager, said.

"This is the first time that Cricket Australia allowed media into the AGM. We also streamed the entire event, including the voting, live over the Internet", he further added.

On asked whether CA, in future, have any plan to have live telecasts of the National Selection Panel meetings, Slade said, "One step at a time…".

Former India selector, Kishan Rungta, who first floated the idea of having live telecasts of the selection committee meetings, once again said, "We should have all meetings related to the game, e.g. selection meetings, technical committee meetings etc. be shown live on TVs".

"However, I am not in favour of AGM be shown live on TV. There are certain issues like funding, sponsorship, security etc. are discussed in the AGM and the people can't be the part of it. How the relation between India and Pakistan (on cricketing field) can be discussed in open", he asks.

"The political situation in India and Australia are different. I am not in favour of live telecasts of the AGM", he signed off.

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BCCI rescripts England ODIs schedule

By Abhishek Manroa

NEW DELHI, India (TheSportsNEXT) October 19, 2012: The Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI) on Thursday revised venues and timings for two One Day Internationals against England to be played in January 2013.

As per details, fourth of the five-match ODI series will now be hosted at Mohali on January 23 and fifth match will be played at Dharmasala on January 27.

Match at Mohali will start at 12:00pm instead of 2:30pm and the one at Dharmasala is now a day game starting at 9:00am.

The BCCI cited expected cold weather to make revision in the itinerary for the matches to be played on January 23 and 27.

The BCCI said in a statement, "These revisions have been made taking into account the cold evening temperatures that will prevail in Mohali and Dharamshala in late January”.

England are slated to play three practice matches, four Test matches, and two Twenty20 Internationals during first leg of their tour to India starting from October 29 till December 22, 2012. The five One Day Internationals would be played from January 3, 2013 till January 27, 2013 after the English cricketers will return to Indian soil following Christmas celebrations.

The revised schedule for England vs India One Day International series:

Jan 3: Arrival in Indian Capital city of New Delhi

Jan 6: Tour match at New Delhi

Jan 8: Tour match at New Delhi

Jan 11: First ODI at Rajkot

Jan 15: Second ODI at Kochi

Jan 19: Third ODI at Ranchi

Jan 23: Fourth ODI at Mohali

Jan 27: Fifth ODI at Dharamshala

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BCCI shortlists 10 cities to replace Deccan Chargers

By Abhishek Manroa

 

NEW DELHI, India (TheSportsNext) September 17, 2012: The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), has embarked on search of a new franchise for its cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) after contract of Deccan Chargers expired Friday.

 

As per the details, the BCCI has shortlisted 10 cities including Ahmedabad, Visakhapatnam, Dharamsala, Indore, Jamshedpur, Nagpur, Cuttack, Kanpur (Greater Noida), Rajkot and Ranchi and the new IPL franchise could be based in any of these cities.

The base price for the new IPL franchise will be 300 crore Indian rupees (5 crore Indian rupees) for a period of five years.

The sixth edition of the Indian Premier League will be held from April 4, 2013 to May 26, 2013.

It is important to mention here that the BCCI held an emergency meeting of the Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council on Friday evening where it eventually decided terminating the Deccan Chargers’ contract as the franchise owned by the debt-ridden Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL) was found guilty of breaching its contract with the IPL.

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BCCI gives Deccan Chargers time to settle financial mess

By Abhishek Manroa

NEW DELHI (TheSportsNext) September 2, 2012: The Indian Premier League franchise Deccan Chargers said Saturday that the negotiations to sell the team are at an advanced stage after the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) allowed it more time to sort out its financial mess by September 15, 2012.

Rajeev Shukla, IPL Chairman, told local media here that the Deccan Chargers, who had won the IPL tournament in 2009, have been awarded additional time to get back to the BCCI after sorting out their financial issues.

The Deccan Chargers are yet to pay their team-members who represented the franchise in the IPL5 (IPL2012).

The Deccan Chronicle group, which had acquired the franchise for 107 million US dollars in 2008, is facing massive financial crisis and have forced to mortgage assets of their team to the banks for raising funds but the practice was against the BCCI and IPL rules which put the team owners in hot waters.

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