Ankeet’s not all clear yet

It has been an eventful year for the Mumbai Cricket Association. The rebuilding has been almost complete and youngsters are coming to the fore. However, Hiken Shah’s suspension and Ankeet Chavan’s continued ban rocked the MCA.

The BCCI suspended Mumbai’s left handed batsman Shah in July after he was found guilty of breaching the board’s anti-corruption code for participants. The incident, which happened within a month after Sharad Pawar was re-elected as MCA president, sent shock waves within the Association like Chavan’s arrest after his alleged involvement in the spot fixing scandal in 2013.

Shah denied the allegations and had even approached the high court without success. Last week, Shah, along with spot fixing accused Ajit Chandila appeared in person before the Disciplinary Committee of the BCCI. The duo have been given time till January 4, 2016 to file a written response to the charges against them.

But, in the same month there was some reprieve for the premier cricket body in the city after Chavan was cleared of spot fixing charges levied by the Delhi police by a trial court. However, the BCCI which had conducted its own enquiry on the charges relating to the 2013 edition of IPL didn’t lift the ban on Chavan along with Chandila and S. Sreesanth.

Chavan had requested MCA for its support and to be allowed to resume his cricketing career. However, MCA managing committee which met in the first week of August decided not to challenge Chavan’s ban. But it lifted the five-year entry ban on Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan implemented in 2012.

On the field, Mumbai are having a great season so far. They topped the Group B in league round of Ranji Trophy. They had a decent Vijay Hazare one-day tournament as well, though they couldn’t progress into knockouts.

The young lads like Shreyas Iyer under new coach Chadrakant Pandit have performed exceptionally well. The retirement of Zaheer Khan and migration of Wasim Jaffer and Sarafraz Khan to other teams has hardly been felt so far.