TNCA declines to host U-19 Test between India and England

Chennai: A day after the ousted office-bearers of the BCCI had an informal meeting in Bengaluru to “show their solidarity”, it has emerged that the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association has declined to host the two Under-19 Test matches between India and England, scheduled to be played in Chennai in February.

The TNCA sent a letter, dated January 6, to the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri informing him its decision. The letter, signed by joint secretary R.I. Palani, cited “domestic programmes” as the reason.

The two youth Tests were supposed to be held in Chennai from February 13-16 and February 21-24.

Though no official statement has been made by the BCCI yet, a TNCA source said they were awaiting response from the Board.

TNCA, however, will be hosting the National T20 for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and National one-dayers for the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Chennai.

TNCA’s media manager, R.N. Baba, dismissed speculation that it is a way of showing defiance by TNCA.

“Look a lot of our TNCA league matches are yet to be completed as grounds are severely damaged due to Cyclone Vadra. Therefore we would need to complete the league in between Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy,” Baba said.

“If we would have shown defiance, why would we host Mushtaq and Hazare Trophies which are BCCI tournaments? Our joint secretary Palani was in the United States. Once he came back, he inspected all the grounds. We need the bigger grounds for TNCA league games,” Baba added.

But the decision bears significance as TNCA president and strongman N. Srinivasan on Saturday unofficially presided over a meeting of disqualified BCCI officials charting the course for way forward. The Supreme Court had recently ordered the BCCI to stop all disbursement of funds to the state associations till they adopted the Lodha recommendations.