N Srinivasan apologises to Supreme Court for chairing BCCI meeting

February 28, 2015

New Delhi, Feb 28: BCCI President-in-exile N Srinivasan today tendered an "unconditional apology" in the Supreme Court for "breaching" its direction by chairing the Board's working Committee meeting on 8 February and deciding to hold its AGM on March 2 to elect new office bearers.

N Srinivasan apologisesClosing the contempt petition against him, the court allowed Srinivasan to exercise the vote of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) as its authorised representative in the BCCI election in Chennai.

Srinivasan also gave an undertaking that he will not preside over the Mar 2 Annual General Meeting or any other such meetings till the time the January 22 judgement prevents him from participating in any decision making meetings.

"I have an instruction to say that I (Srinivasan) will not preside over the meeting. Let it be whosoever who will preside," senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the beleaguered cricket administrator, submitted at the outset before a bench comprising Justices TS Thakur and FMI Kalifulla.

The bench noted the submission of Sibal that "Srinivasan has realised that his act of presiding over the working committee meeting of 8 February was not well advised" and in no way his intention was to defy the court orders.

The apex court did not agree with the Cricket Association of Bihar that being the President of the TNCA Srinivasan should be barred from participating in the March 2 AGM for electing new office bearers of the BCCI.

It accepted the submission of Sibal that he can be authorised by the TNCA to vote on its behalf which was valid as per the rules. It was made clear that Srinivasan would not be participating in the AGM as the President of the BCCI or as the President of the TNCA.

"His presence in the AGM if authorised by the TNCA should not be treated as breach of the January 22 judgement," Sibal said.

He said there should be a clear order from the apex court whether Srinivasan was entitled for voting as the authorised representative of the TNCA as he did not want to face further embarrassment of second contempt proceedings.

Taking note of the submission, the bench said "we see no reason to deny TNCA the right to exercise its franchise and cast vote. That exercise is permissible to TNCA authorising anyone to cast vote including specific authorisation to Srinivasan to cast vote on its behalf."

The bench also clarified that it was not going beyond the issues raised in the contempt petition filed by Aditya Verma, Secretary of the CAB.

"In our opinion Srinivasan has offered unconditional apology for presiding over the BCCI's working committee meeting. We are inclined to close the proceedings on the contempt petition by accepting his apology," the bench said adding that other questions are "premature" at this stage.

Senior advocate Nalini Chidambaram, appearing for the CAB, submitted Srinivasan was covered under the definition of administrator to be barred from even functioning as the member of the any cricket body as per the apex court judgement. She submitted that participating in the BCCI meeting as a TNCA President was also a contempt.

During the hearing, Sibal answered the questions of the bench as to why Srinivasan presided over the working committee meeting by saying that it was a bonafide mistake but on reconsideration of the matter, the embattled cricket administrator realised that he should not have presided.

The CAB had alleged that Srinivasan held a meeting of BCCI's working committee to decide on holding Annual General Meeting in March in alleged violation of the apex court directions.

The apex court had said that the conflict of interest has arisen between what is Srinivasan's duty as BCCI President on the one hand and his interest as father-in-law of Gurunath Meiyappan and owner of IPL team Chennai Super Kings on the other.

The CAB contended that Srinivasan continued to have commercial interest in the IPL matches of BCCI and hence he was disqualified from holding the post of BCCI President and President of TNCA.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Jan 23: Quinton de Kock has been named as the new captain of the South Africa One-Day International side, taking over from Faf du Plessis, who is dropped altogether from the three-match series against England next month.

Du Plessis led South Africa in their disastrous 2019 World Cup campaign and has hinted at international retirement from all formats following the Twenty20 global finals in Australia later this year.

"We all know the quality of the player that Quinton de Kock has grown to become," CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Over the years we have watched him grow in confidence and become one of the top ODI wicket-keeper batsmen in the world. He has a unique outlook and manner in which he goes about his business and is tactically very street smart."

De Kock leads a 15-man squad with five uncapped players in seamers Lutho Sipamla and Sisanda Magala, left-arm orthodox spinner all-rounder Bjorn Fortuin, opening batsman Janneman Malan and wicketkeeper-batsman Kyle Verreynne.

Magala, leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, seamer Lungi Ngidi and hard-hitting opening batsman Jon Jon Smuts must pass fitness tests before they can join the squad.

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will be rested for the series, while allrounders Chris Morris and Dwaine Pretorius have also not been able to force their way in.

"The road towards the 2023 Cricket World Cup starts now and we want players doing well in our domestic structures to see the rewards of the hard work that they have put in," CSA Independent Selector Linda Zondi added.

The first ODI will be staged in Cape Town on Feb.4th, with the second in Durban three days later and the final match of the series to be held in Johannesburg on Feb.9th.

Squad: Quinton de Kock (captain), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Jon Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Kyle Verreynne.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Veteran cricketer Mithali Raj was on Thursday demoted to Grade B from A in the BCCI central contracts while Radha Yadav and Taniya Bhatia were elevated to the middle bracket.

Mithali not being kept in the Rs 50 lakh category was expected as the 37-year-old retired from T20s in September last year. However, she remains the ODI captain and plans to carry on till the 2021 World Cup.

T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur retained his A category contract alongside Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav.

Radha and Taniya, who both had a Grade C contract worth Rs 10 lakh last year, have now entered Grade B (Rs 30 lakh).

Players getting a central contract for the first time are 15-year-old opener Shafali Verma and Harleen Deol, who like the teenager is an attacking batter.

Shafali has attracted a lot of attention ever since making her India debut last year. She recently made 124 against Australia A in Brisbane. The opener will be expected to deliver in the upcoming T20 World Cup Down Under.

Dropped from the list is Mona Meshram, who was in Grade C last year and hasn't played a single game in recent times.

The latest contracts run from October 2019 to September 2020.

Grade A (Rs 50 lakh): Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav.

Grade B (Rs 30 lakh): Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma.

Grade C (Rs 10 lakh): Veda Krishnamurthy, Punam Raut, Anuja Patil, Mansi Joshi, D Hemlatha, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia, Shafali Verma.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

New Delhi, Jul 7: Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is known for his finishing heroics and ending the match with a big shot to send a billion people in a frenzy.

For over a decade, Dhoni's swashbuckling batting style, especially the famed helicopter shot, gave international bowlers a headache. As the former Indian skipper celebrates his 39th birthday today, let's relive his first century in international cricket.

It was on April 5, 2005, when Dhoni had registered his first international century. The former skipper registered the feat against Pakistan in the second ODI of the six-match series. The match was played at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Dhoni had made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2004. However, he did not have a good outing as he scored just 19 runs in the three-match series. But the wicket-keeper truly arrived in the series against Pakistan in 2005, as he scored 148 runs in the second ODI of the six-match series at Visakhapatnam.

In the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first. The side lost Sachin Tendulkar's wicket in the fourth over of the innings and it brought Dhoni to the middle.

Dhoni, along with Sehwag, took on the Pakistan bowlers and the duo formed a 96-run stand, which saw Sehwag going past the 50-run mark. Sehwag (74) was sent back to the pavilion in the 14th over, but Dhoni then found support in Rahul Dravid and the duo stitched a 149-run stand.

Dhoni smashed 15 fours and four sixes in his innings and scored 148 runs from 123 balls, taking India's total to 356/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

India then managed to defend the total as the side bundled out Pakistan for 298 as Ashish Nehra scalped four wickets.

Dhoni has so far played 350 ODIs with his highest score being 183 against Sri Lanka. He also remains the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).

Also referred to as 'Captain Cool', Dhoni is known for his calmness and exquisite captaincy on the field.

Over the years, he has cemented his place as one of the finest wicket-keepers across the world. His agility behind the stumps has given India many breakthroughs as the Ranchi-based wicket-keeper has done successful stumpings in no time.

He is also known for his knack of opting for reviews and many have jokingly remarked to change the 'Decision-Review System's' name to 'Dhoni-Review System'.

In December 2014, he announced his retirement from Tests and gave a chance to the likes of Wriddhiman Saha. Dhoni called time on his Test career after playing 90 Tests, managing to score 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09.

Then in 2017, he handed over the captaincy to Virat Kohli in the 50-over format. However, the wicket-keeper enjoys a great camaraderie with the latter and the duo have been seen often taking decisions together on the field.

Under Dhoni's leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket. His Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has also won the tournament thrice under his leadership.

Dhoni was slated to return to the cricket field on March 29 during the IPL's opening match between CSK and Mumbai Indians. However, the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The 39-year-old has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup. 

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