SC stays cases against Pawar & Co

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed all criminal proceedings initiated by the Calcutta High Court against Union Minister Sharad Pawar and five other BCCI officials in the Jagmohan Dalmiya expulsion case.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan stayed the proceedings on the applications moved by Pawar and five officials who contended that they were not heard by the High Court while passing the order.

Besides Pawar, others who were put on the dock were BCCI President Sashank Manohar, former secretary Niranjan Shah, Ratnakar Shetty (Chief Administrative Officer), N Srinivasan (Secretary) and Chirayu Amin, junior Cricket Committee Chairman.

The Calcutta High Court had on November 12 directed initiation of criminal proceedings against Manohar, former Board president Sharad Pawar and four officials for filing "false" affidavits in the Dalmiya expulsion case.

Dalmiya, a former BCCI chief, was expelled from the Board for alleged financial irregularities.

Ganguly included on BCCI's Technical committee

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who played his last international match this November, was on Thursday nominated to the Technical Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"Sourav Ganguly has been nominated to the Technical Committee of the BCCI," a press release from BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan said.

The BCCI technical Committee is chaired by former great Sunil Gavaskar.

The Committee members will frame rules and regulations for all the domestic and international tournaments in India. Ganguly joins the Committee as their sixth member.

BCCI wants 1st Test to be put off by a day

The Indian cricket board wants the first Test against England at Ahmedabad put off by a day to allow Mahendra Singh Dhoni play in the Champions T20 League final two days prior to it in case his team Chennai Super Kings make it to the title-contest.

"I can confirm that an approach has been made by the Indian board to put it off by a day, but no decision has been taken so far," England team's media manager Andrew Walpole said on Monday.

Walpole said that the approach was made by the BCCI apparently to help Dhoni's case in the December 3-10 USD six million dollar prize money event jointly owned by the BCCI and its Australian and South African counterparts.Walpole also indicated that the England and Wales Cricket Board was not likely to respond to BCCI request.

The Test opener is to be held from December 11 at Ahmedabad's Motera stadium a day after the Champions League final at Chennai.

The second and final Test the Platinum Jubilee encounter is to be played at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium from December 19-23 before the visiting team returns home in time for Christmas.

If the request is acceded to by the ECB and the England team, both the teams' players would get only two days' time between the two Tests.

BCCI to challenge ruling in Supreme Court

New Delhi: The BCCI on Friday decided to move the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court's directive to initiate criminal proceedings against six top officials for filing false affidavits in the Jagmohan Dalmiya expulsion case.

After consulting top lawyers since Wednesday's sensational development, the BCCI has gone through the papers and will move the Supreme Court soon.

"It was an ex parte order and the BCCI officials were not given an opportunity to put across their case. We have decided to move the Supreme Court in this matter," a top BCCI official told PTI.

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed initiation of criminal proceedings against BCCI President Sashank Manohar, former Board President Sharad Pawar and four top officials for filing false affidavits in the Dalmiya expulsion case.

Justice Nadira Pathariya passed the order eight months after Dalmiya, a former BCCI president, moved a case of perjury against Pawar and Board officials and prayed for criminal proceedings against them for allegedly producing false documents in court.

The court passed the ex parte order and directed the Registrar (Original side) to initiate criminal proceedings under section 195 of CR P C (prosecution for contempt of lawful authority of public servants for offences against public justice and for offences relating to documents given in evidence), at an appropriate court.

Soon after the order came out, BCCI officials had a meeting with their team of laywers who have been asked to prepare the case.

The six BCCI officials, against whom criminal proceedings are to be initiated, have been asked not to speak on the issue since the matter was subjudice.

"Since our lawyers are handling the issue, it is better to allow them to do their work and not complicate matters by making public statements", a BCCI official said.

The BCCI is, however, confident that it would come out clean. "What we are confident is that we will be able to bring the proper facts before the honourable court," Pawar had said on Wednesday.

Apart from Pawar and Manohar, the other Board officials were former secretary Niranjan Shah, Ratnakar Shetty (Chief Administrative Officer), N Srinivasan (Secretary) and Chirayu Amin, junior Cricket Committee Chairman.

Anbu.

Dhoni perfect for Test captaincy: Kumble

Former Indian Test captain Anil Kumble has tipped ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as his suitable successor for Test captaincy."It (Test captaincy) was a transitory phase, can't expect to be a captain for 5 years.""We have an able leader in Dhoni and he is perfectly suited to take over Test captaincy. Team is also looking very nice I am sure it will continue to move forward. Indian cricket is in safe hands," said Kumble a day after his Test retirement.Kumble announced his retirement from Tests on Sunday after the third Test against Australia ended in a draw at Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi. Dhoni has been named captain for the last Test to be played at Nagpur from November 6.However, he rubbished reports about BCCI's voluntary retirement scheme forced him to take this decision."There was no talk of BCCI telling any player to retire. I don't think any player needs to be told about when to retire. It (the reported retirement plan) is all false. "Nobody told me when to retire. Sourav (Ganguly) took his decision, I took my own decision, there was no pressure. Let's leave it to the individuals. Criticism is fine but don't do it without reason. Don't start questioning the ability of the players. There is no retirement scheme, that's rubbish," he retorted."It's my decision and I am really happy and at peace that I have taken this," asserted the Karnataka spinner."Though, I will miss the dressing room camaraderie, I 'd like to take my time off from all of this. I have been on the road for 18 years," he added.When asked if he would be a part of the Indian Premier League, Jumbo, who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore, said it was a contractual agreement and he would certainly fulfill it.Asked about Dilip Vengsarkar's comments that his time was up a day before his retirement, Kumble said he prefers not to take such statements personally and instead thanked the former chief selector for giving him an opportunity to captain the Indian Test side."It is something which I don't take personally. That's his opinion. I don't know about it, some journalists came to me and told me about what he had said. I don't read newspapers so I don't know. But thanks to Dilip I got to be the captain of the team. I am thankful to all those who made it possible," he said.On his future plans, Kumble said he was working towards opening an academy for budding cricketers."There are plans to start an academy, not immediately but in a couple of months. The groundwork has already started. I take interest in photography as well so may be I will try my hand at that," he said.

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Anbu.