Mumbai Indians dash off another missive

The heat seems to be mounting on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

A day after Rajasthan Royals dragged the BCCI to court, claiming damages for temporary termination of their contract — which was later stayed — from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Mumbai Indians dashed off a letter expressing shock at the BCCI’s improper reply to their previous letter.

In a strongly-worded mail, sent late on Thursday evening, top MI official Nikhil Meswani said that the franchise was shocked by the board’s response — rather non-response — to their previous mail highlighting irregularities in the January 8-9 player auction. The franchise had, on January 20, written a letter, hinting at potential rigging of the auction.

The franchise pointed out that the BCCI had not bothered to reply to them directly and in stead chose to answer through a media release. After the governing council meeting on February 4, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan released a statement, stating that the auction was transparent and fair.

“As regards the letter from Mumbai Indians regarding the recent IPL auction, the GC was briefed by the operational team, including IMG, on all aspects of the letter. The procedure followed is exactly the same as was done in all the previous auctions.

Representatives of all franchisees had read the auction briefing note prepared by the IMG, which included the changes referred to and signed the same in acceptance before the auction, including the Mumbai Indians. The GC reiterates that the auction was transparent and fair,” the release had said.

Apparently not satisfied with the BCCI’s response through the media, MI have reiterated their demands for papers like agenda, minutes of the December 17 meeting, agenda containing justification for change in the order of auction, quorum and minutes of the meeting where the changes were made and also the basis on which the groupings in the auction were made.

While confirming receipt of the letter, an IPL official refused to comment. A formal reaction from top BCCI officials could not be immediately elicited. An MI spokesman, too, refused to comment on the latest missive.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the sports ministry has given the go-ahead to the central organising committee (COC) of the World Cup to obtain customs clearance of the broadcast equipment lying at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi for over a week.

A ministry official told this paper that they have given the clearance but it could not be confirmed if the equipment has been ferried to Bangalore.