Lalit Modi to receive official reprimand from BCCI

Mumbai, Sep 26 (UNI) Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) president Lalit Modi will be receiving an official reprimand in the two-day Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that begins here tomorrow.

Modi, the architect of the hugely successful Indian Premier League, will be pulled up by the Board for allowing world champions Australia to practice and use the facilities at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy (RCA), a week in advance before the official commencement of the tour on September 29.

The Australians, who arrived in India on September 22 in order to acclimatise themselves in conditions they have found difficult to master in the past, have been delighted with the practice facilities and arrangements rolled out for them in the Pink City.

However, the cricket board is upset that even as it refused Australia's request for an extra tour game, RCA on its own has tried to help out the visitors by allowing them a week of extra practice with a two-day practice game thrown in for added measure.

The presence of former Australian captain Greg Chappell as assistant coach of the Australian team has further caused heartburn in local cricket circles. Mr Chappell, a former Indian coach and presently a director of the RCA, is seen as instrumental in arranging the extra weeks practice for the world champions at the academy.

Adding more grist to the rumour mill was the presence of Indian team's former computer analyst Mr Ramakrishnan in Jaipur.

Ramakrishnan was a close associate of Mr Chappell during the latter's tenure as Indian team's coach and it was feared important data on Indian cricketers could have been passed on to the Australians.

Even as Mr Ramakrishnan left Jaipur in a huff, Ratnakar Shetty, Board's Chief Administrative Officer, told a television channel that RCA was a ''little too obliging'' and should not have rolled out a red carpet welcome to the Australians.

Modi, in reply, defended Australians presence in Jaipur, stating that young cricketers at the RCA would benefit immensely by practicing alongside the world champions.

But that everything in the house was not in order became apparent when Mr Modi, all of a sudden, extended an olive branch towards arch enemy Jagmohan Dalmiya, former board president, by welcoming him for the AGM. Mr Dalmiya, presently, is the president of the Cricket Association Bengal (CAB).

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