Supreme Court may decide the fate of the fourth ODI match between India and Windies that has been scheduled to be played on October 29 at Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai).
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) managing committee member Unmesh Khanwilkar and another member had approached the Bombay High Court, seeking appointment of an ad-hoc committee for the ODI. The High Court told them to approach the Supreme Court.
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Due to the absence of any president or secretary, MCA can’t clear the payment bills at present. Recently, the MCA officials talked with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on this issue and requested the national cricket board to host the game. However, BCCI hasn’t accepted that request.
As only the president or secretary can clear the payments, MCA couldn’t pay the recent hotel bills of the Mumbai Cricket team during the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Bengaluru and had asked the BCCI to bail them out.
While earlier this year, the High Court had appointed two retired judges in the Committee of Administrators (CoA) for the MCA, their terms ended in this September. While the CoA handed over the responsibility to CEO CS Naik but he has no authority to clear the payments and as a result, some recent payments have been halted.
On Wednesday, MCA sources said, “The documentation work is going on and in a day or two the petitioners in all likelihood will approach the top court seeking directions for the conduct of the October 29 game.”
MCA officials are once again likely to meet with the BCCI officials on this Thursday (October 11).
The visitors’ Windies are currently busy to play the two-match Test series against the hosts India. While India thrashed the visitors in the first Test at Rajkot, the second Test will begin on Friday (October 12) at Hyderabad.
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After this Test series, the hosts India and the visitors’ Windies will play the five-match ODI series, followed by three-match T20I series. Already, the second ODI of the series has been shifted from Holkar Stadium (Indore) to Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium (Visakhapatnam) due to the issue of complimentary tickets.
