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Lalit Modi has filed in a petition in India’s supreme court, seeking the removal of IPL chairman Chirayu Amin and BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley from the disciplinary committee

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2010Lalit Modi, the suspended IPL chairman, has filed a petition in India’s Supreme Court seeking the removal of his successor Chirayu Amin and BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley from the disciplinary committee investigating charges against him. Modi’s plea for the recusal of these two members, on grounds of bias against him, had been rejected by the Bombay high court earlier this month.Modi also challenged his suspension from the BCCI and sought a free and fair inquiry into all the charges against him, as well as into the issue of conflict of interest regarding N Srinivasan, who is BCCI secretary and the owner of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.The BCCI had suspended Modi immediately following the conclusion of IPL 3 in April and charged him with financial irregularities relating to the bidding process for IPL franchises, the mid-over ad sales and the sale of theatrical rights. He was also charged with colluding to set up a rebel league in England.

They are the only two names featuring in the final list of contesting candidates at the election on January 12

PTI07-Jan-2025Devjit Saikia and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia will be elected unopposed as BCCI secretary and treasurer, respectively, on January 12, as the only two names featuring in the final list of contesting candidates.The list of contesting candidates was prepared by the BCCI electoral officer and former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Achal Kumar Joti, on Tuesday.The window to file the nominations ended last week while the deadline to withdraw nominations ended at 2pm on Tuesday. Since there were no withdrawals, the electoral officer published the list of contesting candidates at 5pm on Tuesday.The election will be held on the sidelines of the BCCI’s SGM on January 12 and the result, which is now a formality, will be announced on the same day.Saikia has been working as the interim secretary of the BCCI since Jay Shah took over as the ICC chairman on December 1.Bhatia filed the nomination for the treasurer’s post after the post was left vacant by Ashish Shelar, who recently took oath as a cabinet minister in the Maharashtra government.

George Bell, Dane Vilas, George Balderson add fifties against unconvincing defending champions

ECB Reporters Network09-Aug-2023England Lions batter Josh Bohannon’s excellent 105 represented his maiden List A century as Lancashire brushed Kent Spitfires aside by 125 runs at Blackpool to gain revenge for last year’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup final defeat.Kent have now lost two of their first three games in an unconvincing title defence, with Bohannon’s 117-ball innings underpinning 328 for 5.George Bell, Dane Vilas and George Balderson also added half-centuries after Lancashire were inserted. Kent List A debutant seamer Jas Singh returned an encouraging 3 for 74 from 10 overs.Lancashire then defended 329 with ease on a Stanley Park pitch not entirely straightforward for batting. They put two rainy no results behind them as new-ball bowler Jack Blatherwick claimed a career best 4 for 52 from 10 overs in Kent’s 203 all out inside 40 overs.Bohannon moved through the gears following a circumspect start. Kent were at their best with the new ball and deserved more early rewards. But they became increasingly ragged.They conceded only 34 runs from the first 10 overs and ensured Bohannon didn’t hit a boundary until his 36th ball – a six over long-on against Hamidullah Qadri’s off-spin.Bohannon’s quartet of sixes were all hit down the ground, an area opener Bell was particularly strong in en-route to 71. The two shared 112 for the second wicket from 15 for 1 after James Bazley had Keaton Jennings caught at second slip.That was one of four catches for Spitfires skipper Jack Leaning. Two of them helped debutant seamer Singh remove Vilas and Balderson, caught for 51 and 57 trying to attack late on. The 20-year-old had earlier bowled Bell following a heave to leg.Bohannon reached his century – his ninth in all senior cricket – off 113 balls shortly after Lancashire had moved to 250 for 3 in the 44th over.After navigating early challenges against Bazley and new-ball partner Grant Stewart, who surprisingly only bowled six overs for 17, the home innings was filled with fearless strokeplay.Balderson reached his fifty in only 25 balls, and right at the death, rookie pro Matty Hurst scooped his first ball over the wicketkeeper’s head for one of three fours in a six-ball unbeaten 15.Kent then made a troubled start to their chase, slipping to 97 for 4 inside 20 overs.Ben Compton miscued a wide ball from Tom Bailey which seemed to stop on him to cover in the third over before Leaning was bowled by one which kept low from Blatherwick.Alex Blake drove to mid-off against Balderson, who then had Daniel Bell-Drummond caught behind for 38 by Hurst off a skied miscue. Bell-Drummond had been released from Hundred duty with London Spirit to play and finished as Kent’s top-scorer.Fifth-wicket pair Harry Finch and Joey Evison then steadied with a 51-run stand, with the latter whipping a six off Tom Aspinwall’s seam. But their hopes were dashed by Blatherwick, who returned to the attack and claimed three wickets in eight balls, including two in two, to leave Kent floundering again at 153 for 7 in the 34th over.Finch was caught behind for 31 off an inside-edge in the 32nd before a pulling Australian Bazley top-edged his first ball to mid-off. In the next over, Evison was lbw for 30.Left-arm spinner Jack Morley then struck twice before some entertaining hitting from last-wicket pair, Singh and Matt Quinn, was ended by Aspinwall’s maiden senior wicket – Quinn caught at deep cover by Blatherwick.

Turner will stay at the club but has been sidelined by a shoulder injury

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jun-2022Durham have brought in Andrew Tye, the Australian seamer, for the rest of the Vitality Blast after Ashton Turner, their new T20 captain, suffered a shoulder injury.Turner was forced to retire hurt during Durham’s defeat to Northamptonshire on Friday night, his second game as captain, after jarring his left shoulder while diving to make his ground.The club said in a statement that Turner has “begun a process of rehabilitation” with their medical staff and that he will be regularly assessed with the hope that he will be fit enough to play a part later in the group stages.Related

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Tye, Turner’s Perth Scorchers team-mate, is by no means a like-for-like replacement but will bolster a bowling attack that has leaked 9.42 runs an over across the opening three games of the season. Matthew Potts, who will make his England Test debut on Thursday, has been a big miss.Tye is available to make his debut against Worcestershire on Wednesday night. “There are still lots of games to play and having lost Ashton Turner to injury we were keen to act quickly on a replacement,” Marcus North, Durham’s director of cricket, said.Tye played several seasons of club cricket for Chester-le-Street as a young player and also appeared for Durham’s second XI. He has previously appeared in the Blast for Gloucestershire, where he played in 2016, 2018 and 2019.Counties are allowed to have three overseas players registered simultaneously but can only pick two in a single game. Durham already have David Bedingham on their books, who may miss out if Turner and Tye are both available later in the group stages.Liam Trevaskis captained Durham on Sunday in their defeat to Birmingham Bears and is expected to continue in the role.

The inexperienced West Indies line-up managed just 177 in 44.2 and have not collected a single point for the ODI Super League

Vishal Dikshit25-Jan-2021The process was different but the result was similar. Chasing a total for the first time in the series, the inexperienced West Indies line-up came a cropper once again to manage just 177 in 44.2 against Bangladesh to lose the ODI series 3-0 and not collect a single point for the ODI Super League. With the top score again coming from Rovman Powell in the lower order, West Indies were no match for Bangladesh’s competitive 297 scored on the back of attacking half-centuries from Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, and cautious fifties from Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.Unlike in the first two ODIs, the West Indies batsmen showed more fight against the spinners but the twin strikes from Mustafizur Rahman early on, and then in the middle overs from Mohammad Saifuddin meant the visitors were hardly in the chase. No. 3 Nkrumah Bonner blocked one end for a long period and it was only him and Powell who provided any kind of resistance by facing over 40 balls each for contrasting scores of 31 and 47 respectively.Rahman was the first to strike when he had Kjorn Ottley caught behind for 1 and dismissed Sunil Ambris for the third time in the series. Spin soon came on from both ends and Mehidy Hasan Miraz got one to straighten from around the wicket that caught Kyle Mayers on the back foot for 11. Captain Jason Mohammed and Bonners saw through a boundary-less phase of 15 overs and a wicketless first spell from Shakib, but both batsmen fell in successive overs off Saifuddin, who returned to the XI and finished with 3 for 51. Powell was promoted to No. 6 but the asking rate was already over eight an over. He started with a six off his third ball and scored runs with much more freedom compared to the others yet again, only to delay the inevitable.Batting first for the first time this series, Iqbal’s 64 and Shakib’s 51 set the stage for Rahim and Mahmudullah to launch an attack at the end to collect 100 runs off the last ten overs and post their highest total at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.West Indies’ inexperienced attack couldn’t sustain the accuracy they showed at the start. Mahmudullah collected boundaries in the slog overs even as Alzarri Joseph kept things tight as the hosts targeted the inexperienced bowlers – Mahmudullah stayed unbeaten on 64 off 43 that had three fours and as many sixes, the big hits coming off debutant Keon Harding and Raymon Reifer. Harding’s none for 88 were the most expensive figures by a West Indies bowler on debut, overtaking Oshane Thomas’ 1 for 83 against India in 2018, including the last over of the innings which leaked 22 runs with two sixes and a no ball.The real push in the Bangladesh innings came once Rahim joined Shakib after 28 overs. With two consecutive fours, one a reverse sweep and the other a conventional one off left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, in his first ten balls, Rahim made it clear his plan was to accelerate. While Shakib played as many as 41 dots in his 81-ball stay, Rahim moved around in the crease for regular strike rotation and powered them past 250 when he muscled Reifer for two sixes on the leg side and launched Joseph over the covers for a four in between.Mohammad Saifuddin celebrates a wicket•AFP via Getty Images

Bangladesh were 252 with 22 balls left when Rahim was caught at cover. Mahmudullah finished the 47th over with two well-placed fours before Joseph and Reifer conceded only 13 runs off the next two overs, leaving Harding with the big task of bowling the last over on his international debut. Mahmudullah started it with a six over the covers for his 22nd ODI fifty, Soumya Sarkar was run-out two balls later before Saifuddin struck a four and Mahmudullah finished the innings with a six over long-on. That was not the end, though, as replays showed Harding had overstepped, and Mahmudullah collected two more runs to take the last-over tally to 22.West Indies had bowled much better earlier after opting to field. Joseph trapped Liton Das lbw with an in-ducker for a duck and first-change Mayers did the same for Najmul Hossain Shanto. Shakib and Iqbal played out a long boundary-less phase of 15 overs against the precision of Hosein and Reifer, who bowled stump to stump and just outside off in the absence of much movement on offer.Shakib broke the shackles with a late cut for four to third man and Iqbal followed it with a spectacular six over the covers against Jason in the next over. Joseph briefly gave West Indies a chance of putting the hosts on the back foot when he had Iqbal caught at midwicket with a short-ball plan but the attacking mindset Rahim brought didn’t give the visitors a chance.West Indies will also rue the seven wides Harding sent down and the return catch Mayers put down off the first ball Shakib faced in the ninth over of the innings, right after Shanto’s wicket, although it was a touch chance in the bowler’s follow through.

The Test vice-captain succeeds Dane Vilas, who led the team to the MSL title last season

Firdose Moonda05-Nov-2019Temba Bavuma will captain Jozi Stars in the second edition of the Mzansi Super League, which starts on Friday. Bavuma joined the squad this season after playing for Durban Heat in the inaugural edition and succeeds Dane Vilas, who led the Stars to the title last summer.Bavuma’s appointment is another nod to his leadership credentials, which include captaining the Lions in all formats last season and taking charge of the South Africa A side in India on their recent tour. Bavuma is also the Test vice-captain and is increasingly being seen as a successor to current captain Faf du Plessis in the longest format.That said, Bavuma – like his team-mates – had a poor time of it in India during the Test series recently.He was promoted to No. 4, and then brought back to No. 5, but managed scores of only 18, 0, 8, 38, 32 and 0, adding to the pressure already on his 29-year-old shoulders. After scoring back-to-back fifties in only his third Test and then scoring a maiden Test century in his seventh Test – he hasn’t reached three figures since – Bavuma has averaged only 31.24 from 39 Tests, well below what the expectations from him at the start of his international career were.”A lot of guys are under pressure [in the Test team], it’s not just Temba,” Quinton de Kock, the captain of Cape Town Blitz in the MSL, said. “A guy like Temba is now been seen as playing all three formats and I’m sure he will play MSL to try and get his confidence back.”Temba has played enough cricket and he is old enough now – it’s not like we are dealing with a youngster – he has gone through the ups and downs of playing professional cricket. Temba is a relatively good space. He didn’t score the runs he would have wanted to but I think he understands what he needs to get done to be at his peak again.”Apart from being South Africa’s flagship T20 tournament, the MSL is also an important part of the pipeline for identifying talent for the international arena. Last season’s top scorer, Rassie van der Dussen, earned a call up to the ODI team, but this season the focus seems to be on captaincy. While Bavuma is being groomed for leadership at the Stars, de Kock, who is also being touted as a future national captain, was on Monday unveiled as the Cape Town Blitz skipper.

Leicestershire have lost all four home matches at Grace Road after another sluggish batting display at Grace Road

ECB Reporters Network27-Jul-2018
ScorecardA half-century from Billy Godleman underpinned by some explosive hitting by Hardus Viljoen helped Derbyshire Falcons maintain their current mini-revival by overhauling a modest total by Leicestershire Foxes, who have so far lost all four of their home fixtures in the Vitality T20 Blast while winning their three away from Grace Road.Godleman recovered from running out the Falcons’ danger man Calum MacLeod off the second ball as the Falcons chased a target of 150, his unbeaten 57 steering his side to back-to-back wins in the competition after their first four matches ended in defeat.Viljoen smashed 32 off just 16 balls to snuff out any real hope of the Foxes keeping their East Midlands rivals below their total of 149 for 5 on a used pitch.When he was dismissed, skying one to mid-off off Neil Dexter, the target was down to 33 off 30 deliveries and his dismissal merely prefaced the arrival of skipper Gary Wilson, whose 21 off 11 balls helped Godleman finish the job at the end of a good week for the county, who completed only their second Championship win of the season at Chesterfield on Wednesday.The chase had begun disastrously for the Falcons with Macleod, whose 58-ball century against Northamptonshire last time out enabled his side to register a first win of the season, run out without facing a ball as Godleman called a quick single only for Colin Ackerman to beat his partner with a direct hit running in from mid-wicket.With a build-up of threatening cloud away to the east and reports of rain elsewhere, Leicestershire were anxious to complete the five overs minimum required in the Falcons innings to ensure a result, which produced another dividend for the home side in the event, Wayne Madsen hitting Ben Raine straight to mid-off.But then a rather loose over from Mohammad Abbas, conceding three boundaries, handed the initiative back to the visiting side, who were 45-2 at the end of the powerplay, compared with the Foxes’ 38-1 at the same stage.At the halfway stage, the Falcons needed 82 more with eight wickets in hand, although they suffered a setback in the 11th over as 22-year-old Anuj Dal, a tidy right-handed who had batted nicely in only his fourth senior match, was bowled when he attempted to haul a ball from Neil Dexter in the direction of square leg, but new batsman Viljoen punished Gavin Griffiths with a couple of boundaries in the next over to keep his side on track.The Falcons became adept at pushing singles and the Foxes were not able to come up with too many dot balls, and when Viljoen lofted Mohammad Nabi’s off-spin high over probably the longest boundary on the ground they looked to have the chase in their grasp, with 47 needed off the final six overs.Viljoen fell with 33 still needed but Wilson’s experience ensured there were no alarms as the target was reached with eight balls to spare.Mark Cosgrove’s 65 off 53 balls was the mainstay of a Foxes innings that began explosively with Dexter crashing Madsen’s opening over for six and four and then falling leg before attempting a paddle sweep.On a sluggish pitch that made fluent scoring difficult, the Falcons bowled tight disciplined lines and conceded only four boundaries during the powerplay overs.Cameron Delport, who never looked in good touch, thick edged Ravi Rampaul to short third man, and at the halfway stage the total was a modest 58 for 2.Raine went for just six after a painful innings that saw him twice on the deck, hit once in the lower abdomen and then on the ankle, and there was no significant acceleration in the scoring rate until Cosgrove got hold of Viljoen with a six and two fours in the 13th over.It prefaced a better finish for the home side, the last eight overs adding 82, with Ackermann, who hit the ball out of the ground at the Pavilion End off Rampaul, and Mohammad Nabi maintaining the momentum after Cosgrove missed a Rampaul slower ball.Nabi’s powerful and sometimes innovative hitting brought him 18 from 13 balls to swell the total to 149, which at least gave the Foxes more to defend than once looked likely.

Paul Stirling, with his maiden Championship century, and Sam Robson put Middlesex in control against Yorkshire

Tim Wigmore at Lord's19-Jun-2017
ScorecardOn Thursday, Ireland’s Test status is expected to be confirmed at The Oval. At London’s other great cricket fiefdom, Paul Stirling provided more welcome news for Ireland: his maiden County Championship century. With Sam Robson serene at the other end in an alliance of 187 which could be match-shaping, the upshot was a perfect day for Middlesex’s bowlers, who had no need to take the field in the scorching sun.Stirling has long been a curious case in first-class cricket. The talent that earned him two ODI centuries against Pakistan before his 23rd birthday has not been in doubt. Yet the discrepancy between his first-class and limited overs returns for Middlesex – before this innings, he averaged 27.77 for the county against the red ball, but 41.46 in one-day cricket – has been infuriating.He has been shuffled around the order, struggled badly when used as an opener in 2015, and suffered from the sheer strength of Middlesex’s batting. Ireland commitments, which have limited his availability and made it tricky for a fringe player to return to the side, have been another complication.He chose an opportune moment to transfer his formidable limited-overs record to the red-ball game. Middlesex have had a curiously underwhelming start to their Championship defence since beginning the season with a round off; their opening five games have brought one defeat and four draws. And at Lord’s they had to confront Yorkshire’s bowling attack with a slightly cobbled-together batting line-up. They were missing three of their normal top five – Nick Gubbins, who’s with England Lions; Dawid Malan, who’s with England; and Adam Voges, who’s with the physio.A good time, then, for Stirling to play a breakthrough innings. In these conditions – the green tinge on the pitch was deceptive, just as in Middlesex’s last Championship game here – he does not need to adapt his limited-overs game much to excel in the first-class arena. His timing, punching the ball through the off side while scarcely bothering to move his feet, was impeccable. This was a distillation of how Stirling can use his natural strengths in red-ball cricket: he greeted Adam Lyth’s offspin by thumping him over mid-on for six and then, with the man moved back, calmly pushed his next delivery to long on for a single.”There’s a lot of people competing. It’s a tough gig to get in,” said Stirling. “I need to score a bit more consistently but I don’t want to take away from my instinct of playing attacking cricket which is the balance that I want to find. James Franklin just told me to take my tempo from one-day cricket into the red-ball game.”A straight drive off Ryan Sidebottom, punched past his follow-through, was the shot of a man too good to be playing his red-ball cricket in the second eleven. His own form, combined with Voges’ injury, means that Stirling will now get the opportunity to prove as much once and of all.Just before Stirling had the joy of a maiden first-class century at Lord’s, Robson completed his tenth at the ground, on which he averages almost 50. It was an innings of typically understated excellence; Robson’s purring cover drives, precise late cuts and sumptuous clips to midwicket have long since been staples of the Lord’s summer. There could be more to come in this innings, too: Robson, spilled sharply by Jack Brooks off his own bowling on 31, ended unbeaten on 152, his gluttony undimmed.Yorkshire were relatively blameless, such is the quality of the Lord’s pitch. Curiously, given that Middlesex took lunch on 82 for 2, it is on their bowling performance in the morning session that Yorkshire will reflect on with least satisfaction. It was a little too easy for Middlesex’s openers to leave the ball alone – something the recalled Nick Compton did plenty of while taking 24 balls over his first run – and set up a position from which Robson and Stirling could flourish.

Half-centuries from Karun Nair and Sam Billings rescued Delhi Daredevils from a poor start and laid the platform for a 27-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Feroz Shah Kotla

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy30-Apr-2016
Scorecard and ball- by-ball detailsThe sweep featured prominently in Karun Nair’s 50-ball 68•BCCI

Half-centuries from Karun Nair and Sam Billings steered Delhi Daredevils past a poor start and an 11-ball 34 from Carlos Brathwaite provided the late thrust that lifted them to 186. Daredevils defended it with regular strikes that destabilised a Kolkata Knight Riders line-up of considerable depth, eventually bowling them out with nine balls remaining.Robin Uthappa held the chase together with a 52-ball 72, but wickets fell around him – Zaheer Khan did the early damage, while Brathwaite took three wickets in the middle overs.It was still anyone’s game when Andre Russell joined Uthappa, with Knight Riders five down and requiring two runs a ball. They were keeping up with the asking rate, adding 44 at 12.57 an over, when Amit Mishra made the game’s decisive strike, clutching onto a fierce hit from Russell in his follow-through despite his eyes being off the ball. It left Knight Riders needing 36 off the last three overs, and their lower order crumbled, their last five wickets falling in the space of ten balls.

Mishra reprimanded

Delhi Daredevils legspinner Amit Mishra has been reprimanded for using “inappropriate language” during the match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Feroz Shah Kotla.
Mishra admitted to the level 1 offence and accepted the sanction.
Though the IPL did not specify what Mishra’s transgression was, it is likely that he was pulled up for his send-off after completing a caught-and-bowled to dismiss Andre Russell during the chase.

Knight Riders had sent Daredevils in and removed both openers in the first over. Shreyas Iyer played across the line to Russell and fell for his third duck this season, and Quinton de Kock top-edged a pull, looking to fetch a shoulder-high ball from outside off stump.The loss of Sanju Samson in the fifth over meant Daredevils ended the Powerplay 37 for 3. Nair, though, was already on his way, having capitalised on leg side-ish bowling from the Knight Riders seamers to pick up three fours with flicks and glances. He reverse-swept the first ball after the Powerplay, delivered by Sunil Narine, for another four.With Billings busy at the other end – he did not play a single dot between the fourth and 27th balls of his innings – Daredevils’ run rate never flagged despite the early wickets. Billings biffed Piyush Chawla for two fours in a 15-run 12th over, and Nair swept and reverse-swept Narine for three in the 15th, moving past 50 in the process.Both batsmen hit a six each in the next two overs, and though Nair and Chris Morris fell in the space of three balls, there was no let-up, as Brathwaite glanced and dabbed the first two balls he faced to the boundary behind the wicket. With Billings and Brathwaite hitting four more sixes between the 18th and 20th overs, Daredevils picked up 66 runs from their last five.Daredevils had picked four seamers, and the reason became clear as the match wore on, with bounce and a bit of seam movement available to the new-ball bowlers. The bounce accounted for Gautam Gambhir, who closed his bat face too early while looking to work Zaheer into the leg side, and Piyush Chawla – possibly promoted simply for his left-handedness – was lbw playing a similar shot. Knight Riders ended the Powerplay 43 for 2.Knight Riders remained in sight of their target when Brathwaite conceded 22 in a 10th over full of no-balls, but he dismissed Yusuf Pathan and Suryakumar Yadav either side of it to leave them walking a wickets-in-hand tightrope. When R Sathish picked out deep square-leg in Brathwaite’s final over, it came down to Uthappa and Russell.The dismissals at the other end had contributed to Uthappa cutting out most of the risk from his batting. After four fours in his first 24 balls, most of which was during the Powerplay, he went 18 balls without a boundary. But he changed gear as soon as Russell joined him, going after Mishra’s legspin.Uthappa had hit Mishra for a six and a four in the 15th over, and with Russell also at the crease, it seemed a gamble when Zaheer tossed the ball to the legspinner to bowl the 17th, with Knight Riders needing 51 from 24. Uthappa and Russell took 15 off the first five balls of the over, and Russell almost smacked Mishra flush on the face off the last ball. Somehow, his hands shot up, plucked the ball out of the air, and changed the course of the game.

A former ICC official has suggested that the BCCI’s flouting of the FTP could have legal implications

Amol Karhadkar10-Oct-2013Even as CSA president Chris Nenzani is set to meet with Indian officials on Friday in the hope of finalising an itinerary for India’s tour to South Africa, a former ICC official has suggested that the BCCI’s flouting of the FTP could have legal implications. David Becker, who was the ICC’s Head of Legal for five years until 2012, and who is one of several lawyers offering CSA advice, said it was “improper” to allow a member body to “blatantly disregard an ICC resolution”.The BCCI, though, says there is no legal impropriety and no threat of any legal action against it.Under the current FTP, the tour includes a schedule of three Tests, seven ODIs and two Twenty20s. This was the schedule announced by CSA on July 8; the following day, the BCCI objected to the tour, saying the dates had been released without its consultation. It has since announced dates for series against West Indies and New Zealand that, as things stand, would severely shorten the original South Africa schedule.In a statement released to journalists last week, Becker revealed he resigned from his post because of what he considered “questionable governance” at the ICC and listed three examples, all relating to the “dominance of BCCI President N Srinivasan”. What he called the “most concerning one” related to the FTP.”Perhaps the most concerning example is the recent attempt by Srinivasan to manipulate the FTP schedule to his own benefit,” Becker said. “There is a formal, unequivocal and unanimous ICC board resolution approving the current FTP schedule [including 3 Test matches, 7 ODIs and 2 T20 internationals between India and South Africa].”When the ICC allows one of its directors to blatantly disregard an ICC board resolution, it becomes more than questionable governance – it becomes improper.”Becker explained to ESPNcricinfo why he thought it was legally binding. “The original FTP agreement was approved as a binding regulation of the ICC in 2004. The roll-over of the FTP agreement was approved unanimously by the ICC board in June 2011, as was the FTP schedule for 2012-2020.”Mr [Shashank] Manohar, the BCCI president at the time, was present in that meeting and voted in favour of it. It is legally binding on the ICC and its members, and hence it can and should be enforced for the sake of international cricket.”Becker said the FTP not being upheld places the entire structure of international cricket at financial risk. “After the June 2011 board meeting each member then went away and signed deals with its commercial partners on that basis. If one member is allowed to alter the agreed FTP schedule unilaterally, it undermines the entire commercial structure of international bilateral cricket.”His statement further read. “It’s not only hugely concerning for the game, it’s contrary to the regulatory framework within which ICC operates, and hence its illegal.”The BCCI said they have not had communication indicating lawyers would become involved. “We haven’t heard anything about any legal action by Cricket South Africa so far. In fact, we are very positive about the tour and don’t see any reason to take the extreme step. So I don’t know where this legal recourse talk is coming from,” Sanjay Patel, the BCCI secretary, told ESPNcricinfo.Patel said there was no question of the legal route because there is no contractual agreement between India and South Africa regarding this series. “The FTP may have been considered by the ICC and agreed upon. But the fact is we have not signed the bilateral agreement. And the bilateral agreement between the two boards is the only legal document for any international series. The FTP has always been treated as a guideline. Further, there is an argument that India played more matches in the previous FTP cycle (2006-2011) in South Africa (five Tests, nine ODIs and two T20s) than South Africa in India (five Tests, three ODIs and no T20s) and on balance, South Africa owe India a few home games.”There is no reason for anyone to believe we are betraying a commitment. A commitment is made when the bilateral agreement is signed. But if one side goes ahead and announces the schedule without obtaining the consent of the other, the question of signing the agreement doesn’t even arise.”The ICC has distanced itself from Becker’s comments. “The ICC is disappointed to read the inaccurate and unsubstantiated comments made by Mr Becker about the governance of the ICC and its board of directors. These comments are made some 18 months after Mr Becker left the ICC, and at a point in time when he is acting as legal advisor to Cricket South Africa. However, having spoken with the president of CSA, Mr Chris Nenzani, we are assured that these comments do not reflect the view of CSA and are Mr Becker’s own personal views,” the ICC said.An ICC official also explained why it cannot intervene in drawing up India’s tour itinerary. “As with all other FTP cricket, the detail of each tour format is a matter for the respective parties to agree upon bilaterally. Since there has been uncertainty in this instance, the ICC has encouraged CSA to pursue dialogue directly with the BCCI.”(With inputs from correspondents in Pakistan and India)