The big news: Anurag Thakur plays tough

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Anurag Thakur said a final call on the rest of the New Zealand tour tour of India will be taken on Wednesday, after the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha committee put two of its bank transactions on hold. The New Zealand tour has one Test and five One-Day Internationals remaining after India won the first two Tests.

“We need some clarity first,” Thakur told Hindustan Times. “We need to know where we can spend our money and where we cannot. If we are stopped from paying state associations for hosting matches then cricket can’t go on. We need clarity and better communication from the Lodha committee on this,” he said.

Thakur said the freezing of funds can be seen as governmental interference and the International Cricket Council can take action regarding the same. Like all other world sports bodies, in cricket too there are provisions to suspend affiliated units for government interference, he added.

Thakur has termed the Lodha panel’s decision to freeze the board’s transactions to its state cricket associations as “unfortunate”, saying the decision has put the ongoing series in trouble. He said that any tournament cannot be held without funds being available. “Cricket cannot run without money. We don’t take money from the government. We are not allowed to make payments. I can’t say anything about the India–New Zealand series. Team India is No. 1 today. When we are financing state boards, questions are being raised,” he said.

However, Justice Lodha clarified that the panel's comments were misinterpreted. He said the panel has only asked the board to not distribute large funds to state associations while routine functions such as hosting of cricket matches can go ahead as planned.

Other top stories

  1. Pakistan will be eyeing another whitewash as they take on West Indies in the third One-Day International in Sharjah. After losing the T20 series 3-0, West Indies will hope to win the last ODI match before they face Pakistan in the Test series from next week.
  2. South Africa are a match away from winning a series against Australia in the last seven years. After outplaying Australia in the first two One-Day Internationals, South Africa will look to make it 3-0 at Durban on Wednesday.
  3. England captain Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali powered their team to a four-wicket win in their only warm-up game before the one-day series in Bangladesh begins on Friday. Buttler made an unbeaten 80 and Ali 70 in a 139-run partnership, as England chased 310 to beat a Bangladesh Cricket Board Select XI in Fatullah. England face Bangladesh in a three-match ODI series followed by two Tests.
  4. England’s James Anderson backed himself to play in England's Test tour of India next month, even though he still needs another three weeks to recover from his shoulder injury. "I'm not going to miss the entire trip, no," he told espncricinfo. "I'm very confident I'm going to be involved in the India series. It is a frustrating injury, something I want to get right, but it does happen in cricket. In sport, you get injured. You've just got to deal with it, and hopefully I can get as fit as possible as soon as possible."
  5. Forty one-time Ranji champions Mumbai begin their title defence against Tamil Nadu in Lahli on Thursday without the services of Shreyas Iyer and Siddhesh Lad. While Iyer hasn't yet recovered from a hamstring injury he picked up during India A's tour of Australia last month, Lad is suffering from back spasms. Iyer was the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy last season with 1,321 from 11 games at an average of 73.38.