Probe commission an eyewash: Modi’s lawyer
Mumbai: Former IPl chairman lalit Modi’s lawyer Mehmood Abdi on Wednesday ridiculed BCCI’s three-man inquiry commission to probe the betting charges against President N Srinivasan’s son-in-law as mere an eye wash. Abdi contended that the committee was devoid of requisite mandate and could not investigate into the conduct of somebody who was not a member of the BCCI. “Under the BCCI bye-laws, a disciplinary committee (read commission in this context) is appointed annually by the general body of the board consisting of all 30 members. Twenty one days’ notice is mandatory for any such deliberation. This is why a committee or commission appointed by Srinivasn is devoid of the essential mandate,” Abdi said in a statement.
‘let us be a little bit patient with commission’
New Delhi: Sunil Gavaskar today asked one and all to be a “bit patient with the three-member commission” that will be probing the spot-fixing and betting allegations levelled against BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law and CSK ‘Team Principal’ Gurunath Meiyappan. “It has been decided that the commission will carry out an inquiry. As much as we argue now, we should allow the commission to do its job. let us all be a little patient. To even doubt the integrity of the two retired judges and secretary Sanjay Jagdale, who only has interest of Indian cricket in mind is ridiculous,” Gavaskar told NDTV on Wednesday.
BCCI Prez should tender resignation: Ministry
New Delhi: N Srinivasan’s cup of woes seems to be spilling over with the Sports Ministry today joining the growing chorus of demand for his resignation as BCCI President pending inquiry into the ongoing IPl spot-fixing scandal. After senior Board officials such as IPl chairman Rajiv Shukla, vice-President Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia urged him to step aside, the Ministry has also sought his ouster. “BCCI is inquiring into allegations of match and spot fixing. As there is a conflict of interest in this inquiry, therefore BCCI President should tender his resignation on moral grounds, pending the outcome of the inquiry,” the Ministry said in a statement.
Smith may be out for more than 4 months
Johannesburg: South African Test captain Graeme Smith might remain out of action for four to six months due to the ankle surgery which he underwent recently, leaving him uncertain for the home series against India later this year. “It’s too early to tell with any certainty as he had a highly unusual operation and it is difficult to predict how long it will take for the stress fracture to heal,” Shuaib Manjra, head of Cricket South Africa’s medical committee, told the daily The New Age on Wenesday. “The best case scenario is that he returns to playing in around four months, but that could stretch to six months or even longer,” he added, raising concerns that Smith may miss not just the tour by India in November but also the Test and ODI series in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan preceding that.
SlPl denies Vindu Dara Singh’s claim
Colombo: Sri lanka Premier league on Wednesday denied Vindu Dara Singh’s claims that two bookies had owned one of the franchises of the SlPl, which conducted its inaugural edition last year. “No such names figure in the list of SlPl franchise owners,” Ajith Jayasekera, the SlPl chief executive officer, told reporters reacting to Vindu’s claims that two bookies named Sanjay and Pawan are the ‘benami’ owners of one of the franchises in the SlPl. After the seven-franchise tournament ran into problems in 2011 with the BCCI not permitting the Indian players to take part in the tournament, the first edition, which was to be held the same year, was stalled.
STAR announces CT commentary panel
New Delhi: leading sports channel STAR on Wednesday announced a star-studded commentary panel with representation from all the participating countries for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2013 to be played in England from June 6 to 23. The list of commentators include: Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sanjay Manjrekar, Arun lal and Akash Chopra (India); Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton (England); Shane Warne and Tom Moody (Australia); Michael Holding (West Indies); Ramiz Raja and Wasim Akram (Pakistan); Russell Arnold (Sri lanka); Pommie Mbangwa (Zimbabwe) and Simon Doull (New Zealand). Harsha Bhogle and Jatin Sapru will undertake the hosting duties.
ponting not to return for ashes
london: Ricky Ponting has played down his own suggestion that he would be available as a replacement player for Australia's Ashes squad this summer. The former Australia captain indicated in his column in this morning's Daily Mail that he would "never say never" if asked to help out the national team against England, though he added that a call-up was "e tremely unlikely". Speaking later, though, he ruled out playing a part in the series. "I did an interview with the Mail yesterday and probably didn't answer this question exactly the way I would have liked," said the 38-year-old, who is in England playing county cricket for Surrey. "I'm a happily retired international cricketer. There'll be a squad of 17, 18 players and there'll be reserve batsmen on standby, ready to go if anyone in the starting XI loses a bit of form. PNS/Agencies