BCCI’s gives cold shoulder to PCA

MUMBAI, October 6: The Cricket Board’s (BCCI) General Body unanimously decided last month-end not to allot any internationals in the forthcoming season to Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), according to Board sources.“It was a unanimous decision taken by the General Body at Chennai (on September 29). They (PCA officials) have given a 99-page chargesheet to the CBI about the Board and other units even as they are part of us and take part in the meetings. It has angered everyone in the Board,” the sources told PTI.

PCA president Inderjit Singh Bindra, himself a former Board Chief, had hit out at some top BCCI officials at the height of the match-fixing scandal in April and May and is among those who have talked to CBI officials probing the scam.

Bindra also revealed to CNN in a TV interview that it was Kapil Dev who had offered Rs 25 lakh to Manoj Prabhakar to underperform in the Singer Cup series in 1994 in Sri Lanka. PCA’s modern stadium at Mohali is, thus, unlikely to host any match against Zimbabwe or Australia, the two countries who are to visit India this season.

Zimbabwe are to visit in November-December and Australia are scheduled to be here for a Test and one-day international series in February-March. The Board is to finalise the complete schedule of the tour by Zimbabwe next week.