Ishant under BCCI scanner for endorsing gully cricket
It was in the cramped bylanes of Ranjit Nagar that Ishant Sharma took his
early lessons in bowling. He still fondly remembers his daily evening matches
and cherishes all those wickets he took on tar surfaces. "I loved playing
gully cricket. Everybody begins like that," says the pacer as he happily
promotes T10 gully cricket, an innovational, eight-city tournament.
But instead of praise, Ishant has earned the board's ire. The BCCI is
unhappy over the paceman's association with a ten-over-a-side event as brand
ambassador and is likely reprimand the pacer, or issue a show cause notice.
Ishant is BCCI's contracted player and as per stipulations, requires
permission before signing up with any cricketing venture. According to a board
official, "the 10-over-a-side cricket tournament is unauthorised and
thereby no cricketer contracted with the board can be associated with it."
The organisers - Reasonable Communications Private Limited - however,
reiterated at the launch that they did not require any BCCI approval as the
regulations bar any first-class cricketer from playing in the tournament.
When contacted, BCCI chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty, refused
to comment on any action that the board might take on Ishant. "As of now,
nothing of that sort has come to my knowledge, and I am not aware of any such
format being introduced. It's too early for me say anything on this issue and
comment on Ishant being associated with it," he told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Rajput, who has been appointed as tournament director, will
search across
Rajput said the tournament would be a great platform for new talent.
"There are a lot of cricketers in the gullies who don't get a platform. I
think this will give them an opportunity. Cricket has shifted from metros to
small towns. If we can promote the game there,
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