Puducherry, one of the nine new domestic teams integrated in the Indian domestic circuit, were on the receiving end of complaints questioning the composition of their side during their eight-wicket win over Manipur in the Vijay Hazare trophy in Baroda, Indian Express reported on Wednesday.
The allegations raised by the complainants state that Puducherry fielded more outstation players than the permissible number. Convenor of Uttarakhand Cricket and BCCI’s former Chief Administrative Officer, Ratnakar Shetty, even warned the board that the supposed bending of rules could lead to “corrupt practices” in future.
“I was shocked to hear that BCCI has given special permission to include more than the number of outstation players in the team,” Shetty wrote in a letter to Board’s general manager Saba Karim and CEO Rahul Johri.
“This kills the spirit of the game and the rules of level playing field that was aimed when the eligibility rules were framed,” he added.
“It also raises the question as to why only Puducherry has been given the special status. I am sorry to say that this decision is not in the interest of domestic cricket and will lead to lot of corrupt practices in future. It also puts all the other states where there was strict compliance to a disadvantage.”
Puducherry’s three outstation “professionals” are former Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar, pacer Pankaj Singh and veteran batsman Paras Dogra.
Using loopholes?
G Chandran, another compliant, wrote to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, alleging that the local players have been denied opportunities.
He asked the CoA to confirm if all 11 players who played for Puducherry against fellow debutants during their Vijay Hazare trophy opener on Tuesday fulfilled the “qualification rules”. Apart from Nayar, Singh and Dogra, the eight others who played the match are skipper, D Rohit, former Mumbai pair Shashank Singh and Sagar Trivedi, Thalaivan Sargunam, Nikhilesh Surendran, Sarang Udheshi, Iqlas Naha and Ashith Sanganakal.
Chandran wrote: “The details clearly indicate that the entire eleven of Team Puducherry does not contain a single player of Puducherry origin and it’s very obvious that in the name of promotion players from all other states have been given a chance thus denying the local players of Puducherry any opportunity. If you look at the North Eastern states, it is very apparent that they have mostly abided with the BCCI Rules.”
According to the newspaper, a source from Puducherry denied the claims, stating that these were attempts to sabotage the team’s progress. “Some of them are employed with MRF, which has offices in Puducherry, for a few years or other companies based there and have contracts too. Some others are studying in colleges based there,” the source was quoted as saying.
The BCCI’s rules state that to represent a state team as a “local”, the player has to either show proof of being a resident for at least a year or produces salary slips for three years pertaining to work-related residency. The player can also obtain a certificate from an educational institution if he’s a student based in the region.