Boiling hot BCCI shoots harsh mail to DDCA on Kotla match

New Delhi: BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has shot off an e-mail to the faction-ridden Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA), enquiring whether they can host the second T20 International between India and Sri Lanka at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground on February 12.

Read: DDCA seeks one-day extension of deadline set by BCCI

The situation arose after Manjit Singh (a DDCA patron) who is also a member of the Tours and Fixtures Committee wrongly told Thakur and Game Development Manager Ratnakar Shetty during a meeting in Mumbai that they have all the required compliance certificates in order.

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However Thakur got to learn that DDCA had no clearances in hand when he met senior DDCA officials last Saturday.

It has been learnt that Ranchi has been kept on stand-by in case DDCA fails to organise the match. DDCA treasurer Ravinder Manchanda admitted that DDCA has indeed received such an e-mail from BCCI.

Also Read: We are very positive about the match happening at Feroz Shah Kotla: DDCA president

"The deadline given by Anurag Thakur in his e-mail is today (January 25th evening). We have not yet replied to his e-mail. All the compliance certificates from competent authorities will take some time to come. Also Mr Thakur (BCCI secretary) was under the impression that we had all the certificates ready," Manchanda said.

In fact DDCA is in dilemma as to how they would revert to BCCI after the faux-pas that has happened. When High Court appointed observer for Delhi matches Justice (Retd) Mukul Mudgal was asked, he told PTI: "I am in charge of supervision of matches. The mail has been written to the DDCA and it is their duty to answer the mail. I know the deadline is today (Monday)."

It has been learnt that Manjit Singh did not consult senior DDCA officials before assuring Thakur. Manjit was pushed into BCCI's Tour and Fixtures Committee on the recommendation of a controversial DDCA official, who is also a BCCI office bearer.

A DDCA official who worked with Justice Mudgal during the South Africa Test match said, "The 9-member core committee that will be formed for the World T20 will not have that BCCI office-bearer as there are chances that it might lead to a lot of controversies."