The big story: The BCCI-Lodha saga drags on

The Board of Control for Cricket in India continued to shoot down the recommendations of the Lodha committee. The Supreme Court-appointed committee had asked the board to disqualify all ineligible office bearers with immediate effect.

BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke stated that the board will wait for orders from the Supreme Court in the next hearing, which will be on December 5. A state association president who attended the meeting was quoted by ESPNCricinfo as saying, “We don’t have to take any decision. We have said we don’t agree [with certain recommendations]. Whatever the Supreme Court says we will have to abide.”

Other top stories:

  1. Pakistan Cricket Board continued to pile on the pressure on BCCI, accusing the latter of backtracking on the bilateral series commitment. In 2014, BCCI had reportedly signed an agreement to play six bilateral tournaments with Pakistan between 2015 and 2023, stated PCB. The Pakistan board’s chief, Shaharyar Khan, stated that he would bring up the subject during Asian Cricket Council’s next meeting. 
  2. Australia’s big-hitting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has been fined for “disrespectful” comments on Victoria skipper Matthew Wade. Maxwell stated that he should have got the nod in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide against South Africa. Australia coach Darren Lehmann also stepped in to resolve the issue a few days ago with Maxwell being told that his domestic record over the past year was not adequate enough to warrant a place in Australia the side. 
  3. England vice-captain Joe Root supported his under-fire skipper Alastair Cook, and backed him to captain the Test team for many years to come. Root also asked his batters to take more responsibility.
  4. England coach Trevor Bayliss, while praising all-rounder Ben Stokes, calling him “passionate” has also asked the 25-year-old to cope with on-field confrontations in a better fashion. Stokes and Indian skipper Virat Kohli were involved in quite an on-field battle between the third India-England Test.
  5. The eight round of the Ranji Trophy drew to a close on Friday: Jharkhand, Kerala, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Saurashtra, Odisha, Hyderabad and Services emerged as victors.
  6. A BCCI error cost seven teenage cricketers a place in the youth Asia Cup. The board had misread the cut-off year as 1997 instead of 1/1/1998. As a result, seven over-aged cricketers were selected for the tournament. BCCI later admitted to its mistake, “It was a major goof-up. Things could have been worse if we would have come to know about this after the team had landed in Sri Lanka,” quoted a BCCI source in an Indian Express report. 
  7. South African cricketers AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel, who have been long-term absentees from their side, will be available for selection for their franchise team Titans in a bid to prove their fitness for their national side. The Proteas will be hosting Sri Lanka later this month.