BCCI asks Team India not to leave Sydney

BCCI filed an appeal with the ICC against the ban slapped on Harbhajan Singh and asked Indian team to stay put in Sydney.

Raising the stakes, a furious BCCI filed an appeal with the ICC against the three-match ban slapped on off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and asked the Indian team to stay put in Sydney as part of pressure tactics to get its case heard.

Angry over the ban and calling it ‘unfair and unacceptable’, an emergency meeting of the Board decided to fight out the issue with the Australians and the umpires who had done India in the second Test which went in favour of the home team.

Arun Jaitley, a senior Board office-bearer and a well-known lawyer drafted the complaint against Match Referee Mike Procter’s ban decision on the ground Harbhajan had racially abused Andrew Symonds and filed it with the international body within 24 hours of the decision as required under rules.

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Parellelly it asked the Indian team to stay put in Sydney and not go to Canberra where a two-day practice match is scheduled from Thursday.

After the late night punishment handed out by Procter, a furious BCCI President Sharad Pawar called an emergency meeting at his residence in Delhi this morning where all options including pulling out of the series were said to have been considered.

At the meeting, it was decided to appeal against Procter’s order and ask the ICC to suspend the order till the final disposal of the appeal.