BCCI buys time for N Srinivasan, calls Working Committee meet on Sep 26

Chennai: In an apparent bid to give its under-fire President N Srinivasan some time, the BCCI on Sunday deferred its much-anticipated Annual General Meeting after an informal gathering of its members units here today.

The unofficial meeting was called to discuss the impasse which surrounds the AGM as a majority of BCCI members wanted it postponed till the Supreme Court-appointed Mukul Mudgal committee submits its final report on the IPL spot-fixing scandal in the first week of November.

The solution worked out today was to convene a Working Committee meeting on September 26. With this, the AGM is unlikely to be held on the scheduled date of September 30 as rules demand for a three-week gap between the two meetings.

Today's meeting, which had Srinivasan in attendance, had representation from 18 units, while three others joined in via teleconference. Among those joining in via teleconference were interim President Shivlal Yadav, who represents the Hyderabad Cricket Association.

"After taking all the possible technical and legal opinions, at the moment, there seems to be no other option but to postpone the AGM," BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel said after the meeting.

The meeting was a show of strength by Srinivasan, who has been forced to step aside due to the ongoing inquiry into the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal.

"There is no way that the BCCI AGM can be held within September 30. Around 20 members today attended the meet which showed that Srinivasan has overwhelming majority among the 31 members," another BCCI official said.

Meanwhile, continuing his crusade against alleged corruption in the BCCI due to Srinivasan's presence, petitioner in the IPL case, Aditya Verma, threatened to move Supreme Court for the Board's refusal to have an AGM within the September deadline.

If the Mudgal Committee report clears Srinivasan of any wrongdoing, the Tamil Nadu strongman is unlikely to face any opposition during the BCCI election, scheduled to be held during the AGM.

The opposition faction, led by former BCCI president Shashank Manohar, has support of a mere four units at the moment.

Among other decisions taken at the meeting, the fifth ODI of the upcoming home series against the West Indies will now be held on October 20 in Kolkata. The match was earlier scheduled for October 17 in Cuttack.

This was prompted by an earlier decision to award the October 22 Twenty20 match to Cuttack.

The West Indies will begin their six weeks tour with a five-match ODI series beginning in Kochi on October 8, followed by the one-off T20I and a three-match Test series from October 30 in Hyderabad.

BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel said the Board members also took the opportunity to congratulate newly-appointed Team Director Ravi Shastri for India's ODI series win against England.

Besides, the BCCI also decided to conduct the Annual Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi Memorial Lecture in Kolkata.