A day after a few ousted top officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and its state associations met in Bengaluru to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court verdict, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association has refused to host two under-19 Test matches between India and England, scheduled to be played at Chennai’s MA Chidambram Stadium from February 13, Hindustan Times reported.
The report stated that TNCA had sent a letter to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri expressing their inability to host the games. “We have a lot of domestic matches to host. Due to the disruption caused by the cyclone Vardah, a lot of our grounds are facing issues and we haven’t been able to host matches. So we have expressed our inability,” said Kashi Viswanathan, who ceased to be TNCA secretary following the apex court order.
The BCCI had notified the TNCA about the games a month ago.
“We regret to inform you that we are unable to host the matches at Chennai due to various domestic programmes scheduled during the period,” TNCA joint secretary, RJ Palani, wrote in his letter to Johri.
The informal meeting in Bengaluru was attended by former BCCI presidents Anurag Thakur and N Srinivasan. They were joined by ousted secretary Ajay Shirke, board treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary, joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary, and vice-president Rajeev Shukla.
There has been speculation that ousted officials would try and disrupt the upcoming cricket season as retribution towards the SC’s ruling on Lodha reforms.