BCCI forms ad-hoc committees for Bihar and Uttarakhand

CAB secretary Aditya Verma welcomed the move. (Source: File)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formed an ad-hoc committee for cricket administration in the states of Bihar and Uttarakhand.

The committee formed to look after cricket affairs in Bihar will be spearheaded by its Chairman Niranjan Shah and will also include Vinod Phadke (Secretary, Goa Cricket Association), Sourav Dasgupta (Secretary, Tripura Cricket Association), Bharat Zaveri (Executive Member, Gujarat Cricket Association) and Ratnakar Shetty (General Manager – Game Development, BCCI).

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The panel for Uttarakhand will be chaired by MP Pandove and will also have Vishal Marwaha (Secretary, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association), Subir Ganguly (Joint Secretary, Cricket Association of Bengal), Vinod Shah (Vice President, Maharashtra Cricket Association), KVP Rao (Manager – Game Development, BCCI).

Speaking on the development, BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said, “Due to infighting among different associations present in these states, aspiring cricketers of these states have to suffer for no fault of theirs. To ensure cricket grows in these states, the BCCI has decided to form an ad-hoc Committee for these states, which will function, till the affiliation issues of these states are resolved.

“This will ensure participation of budding cricketers from these states in the BCCI Associate and Affiliate members tournament, this season onward.

“During my recent visit to Bihar, I got representations of at least 17 organisations to start cricket once again in Bihar and similarly I’ve got representations of various organisations in Uttarakhand, who have lost on playing opportunity after bifurcation of Uttar Pradesh,” Thakur added.

Petitioner in the IPL spot-fixing case and Cricket Association of Bihar secretary Aditya Verma, who has not been included in the committee welcomed the move.

“The decision means U-16, U-19 and U-23 boys of Bihar would be able to play at national level tournaments,” he said.

“As long as I am sanguine that BCCI wants cricketers in Bihar to prosper, I have no problem but if it happens otherwise my fight against establishment will continue,” Verma said.

BCCI stepped in to protect interest of players: Dalmiya

The Indian Cricket Board president Jagmohan Dalmiya said it was “necessary” for the BCCI to step in and protect the interest of the sport in the states of Bihar and Uttarakhand for which ad-hoc committees were formed to look after the state of affairs.

“In view of the factional disputes over the years, the game of cricket and the players are suffering in both Bihar and Uttarakhand and no proper development of the game are being undertaken,” Dalmiya stated in a release.

“Therefore, in the larger interest of the game and the players it was felt necessary that BCCI should step in and undertake promotion of the game and protect the interest of the players by forming ad-hoc committees,” he said.