Days after the Supreme Court sacked Board of Control in Cricket in India (BCCI) sacked Secretary Ajay Shirke from his post, the ineligible office bearer contacted the president of the English Cricket Board (ECB), Giles Clarke to convince him to call off the India tour.
According to a report published on DNA, there were several e-mails exchanged between Giles and the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri in which the worried English cricket board president asked whether the squad would be taken care of by the BCCI or not.
Giles wrote in the mail,”I received a call from Ajay Shirke who I believe no more the honorary Secretary of the BCCI. So, can I know whether the English team will continue receiving all the attentions as a guest team in a normal way including proper security, player daily allowance payments, hotel bills covered and the like, with transport organised at all times? For sure it’s totally a concern of BCCI but please inform as soon as possible that the schedule is intact or had any changes?”
Replying to this mail, Johri wrote,”The series will go as planned. We have been in touch with the organising venues who have assured us with utter confidence that the games will be conducted successfully. We do not anticipate any change in the schedule.”
On January 7, Giles wrote a mail to Johri in order to thank him and once again confirmed that he received a call from Shirke who talked about English team’s security apart from other issues.
On the other hand, the Lodha committee is aware of this conversation and will produce the mail trails at the apex court on January 19, the day when a set of administrators would take over BCCI functioning.
When Shirke was asked whether he really made a call to Clarke and tried to convince him to call off the tour, he told that the people in power are trying to ruin his reputation. He said,”It’s nothing but a bunch of lies. I called Clarke because he is my one of the good friends.”
Amid all these on-going activities, the Maharashtra Cricket Association nominated Shirke’s name to represent the association in all BCCI meetings. Despite being ineligible under the new rules and regulations, Shirke will still be able to attend all BCCI meetings.
