Wrong to brand Indian Premier League as extravaganza: Ajay Shirke tells Lodha panel in strong-worded letter

BCCI President Anurag Thakur expressed his disappointment over Lodha panel's decision to stop payment to state associations.

New Delhi: As Lodha panel continues to build more pressure on Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to implement suggested reforms, board secretary Ajay Shirke wrote a strong-worded letter to the Supreme Court-appointed panel.

Shirke asked the Lodha panel not to call the Indian Premier League as a mere extravaganza. Shirke's comments have come in reply to Lodha panel's recommendations where they have pulled up the Indian board for the much delay in implementation of sweeping reforms.

The all out war between Lodha panel and BCCI took an uglier turn after the panel, in its letter yesterday, told the banks to block BCCI's payments to the state bodies.

"It has come to the notice of this Committee that certain decisions have been taken at the 'Emergent Working Committee' meeting of the BCCI on 30th September 2016 to disburse large funds to the various member associations," the panel had written.

As a reply to this, the Indian board threatened to cancel the third match of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand.

President Anurag Thakur also expressed his disappointment over the panel's decision to stop payment to state associations.

"I can't talk about whether series will go on or not but if players and associations are not paid, it raises serious at a time when the team is number one in Tests, No 2 in T20s, No 3 in ODIs. It's the most powerful Board. We have created a successful tournament like IPL. We can't run the game without money," Thakur said.

"BCCI does not take any money from outside whether it's central or state government. Banks were told not to release payments. It is unfortunate that such a situation has arisen. Has BCCI not done anything at all these years, these questions need to be answered," Thakur fumed.