The big news: BCCI apologises to stakeholders

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s plan to seal the Indian Premier League broadcast rights deal has been shelved after the Justice Lodha panel declined to give a green signal until the board agreed to implement the reforms suggested by the committee that were approved by the Supreme Court. The BCCI confirmed the process has been deferred, reported Hindustan Times.

The IPL media rights’ bid submission was scheduled for Tuesday. However, the Lodha panel on Monday replied to the BCCI’s letter seeking clarifications, saying “before the committee proceeds to issue any directions, it would need to satisfy itself that the BCCI administration is willing to comply with the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 21.10.2016.” The Apex Court on Friday had ruled that all major BCCI contracts will need the Lodha panel’s approval. The panel was responding to BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke’s letter seeking an approval of the bid submission.

Late on Monday, the BCCI released a press statement, where it apologised to all its stakeholders for "being unable" to go ahead with the bid on Tuesday. The board said it had "no control" over the deferral and cannot "take any decision in the matter other than what the Committee recommends".

Other top stories

  1. Indian all-rounder Suresh Raina will miss the last two One-Day Internationals against New Zealand. The Indian cricket board announced an unchanged team for the matches in Ranchi and Visakhapatnam. Raina was recovering from viral fever and is yet to achieve complete match fitness.
  2. Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, along with and fast bowler Mohammed Shami, have also been rested for the remaining two ODIs against New Zealand. The three bowlers had been left out keeping in mind a hectic Test schedule in the 2016-17 home season.
  3. Pakistan need only six wickets to beat West Indies in the second Test in Abu Dhabi and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Misbah-ul-Haq has given the West Indian batsmen 152 overs to knock off 456 runs. In reply, West Indies were at 171/4 at the end of the fourth day, needing another 285 runs to win.
  4. South Africa had their first experience with the pink ball without any problems in their tour match at the Adelaide Oval. Quinton de Kock explained that it was not as tricky as they thought it would be. "I didn't find any difference," de Kock said. "I am not one to overthink it. A ball is a ball. I just play the way I should be playing in that situation, it's no difference to me."
  5. Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has written about the uninspiring leadership of Ross Taylor and how his captaincy left the New Zealand team on the verge of imploding. In his book Declared, McCullum has devoted a whole chapter to "the coup that wasn't", describing Taylor's failings as a captain and the circumstances that led to their deterring relationship.
  6. England head coach Trevor Bayliss will miss the team's West Indies tour to be with his family in Australia. Paul Farbrace will take charge of England's ODI tour to the Caribbean next year. England leave at the end of February to play three ODIs and return to the United Kingdom on March 10.