BCCI to decide fate of Ajit Chandila and Hiken Shah on Tuesday
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to announce its decision regarding the future of tainted cricketers Ajit Chandila and Hiken Shah on Tuesday, NDTV Sports reports. A decision is also expected on the course of action to be taken against former Pakistan umpire Asad Rauf who has also been charge sheeted in the IPL spot-fixing case.
The three-member disciplinary committee of the BCCI comprising of board president Shashank Manohar, Jyotiraditya Scindia, the president of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) and Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Saurashtra Cricket Association, had questioned the players in question on December 24, along with Ravi Sawani, head of the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and given them until Monday to respond in writing to the charges levied against them.
Chandila was arrested by Delhi police in 2013 along with his Rajasthan Royals teammates S Sreesanth and Ankit Chavan, for trying to fix IPL games, and the trio were later banned for life by the BCCI.
Former Mumbai cricketer Shah was suspended by the board in June 2015 after he had reportedly made a corrupt approach to one of his colleagues from first-class cricket, who is also a member of one of the IPL teams.
Though the Delhi High Court had dropped all charges against Chandila, along with Sreesanth and Chavan, the BCCI had announced that the ban imposed by them would continue regardless of the decision taken by the judiciary body.
Speaking after the meeting in December, Chandila had reiterated that he was innocent and sounded confident that a decision would be taken in his favour.
"The new disciplinary committee members asked me the same questions as were asked by Delhi police. I have said whatever I told Delhi Police. Everyone knows what the court has said. I hope I will get justice from this new committee. I don't know when the verdict will be given," Chandila told reporters.
"I was asked questions by Shashank ji, Niranjan ji and Scindia ji - via video conference. Ravi Sawani was also there. I also received the transcript of the questions asked and answers given.”
The committee is also expected to announce further sanctions against Rauf after the former umpire was issued a notice to respond to the charges against him after he was declared a ‘wanted accused’ in the case.
BCCI to decide venues for T20 series against Sri Lanka
BCCI’s Tour, Programme and Fixtures committee headed by G Gangaraju will also meet on Tuesday to finalise the venues for the three-match T20 series between India and Sri Lanka scheduled for February.
Reports indicate that Pune and Vishakapatnam are highly likely to be named in the list while the other venue is yet to be finalised.