BCCI president, treasurer kept in dark about Afghanistan Test date

The difference in opinion among BCCI top brass once again came to the fore as acting president CK Khanna, treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry and senior member Rajiv Shukla were apparently not kept in the loop over the scheduling of the historic Test against Afghanistan.

BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary and CEO Rahul Johri on Tuesday announced that Bengaluru will host the memorable Test between India and Afghanistan from June 14-18. It will be Afghanistan's first-ever five-day match.

The normal convention as per BCCI constitution is that any decision with regard to venue and date of international matches is taken by tours and fixtures subcommittee. President, secretary and treasurer are ex officio members of that committee while Shukla, a senior Congressman, is also a part of that panel.

"Yes, neither secretary nor treasurer was kept in the loop about the decision as one needs to call a subcommittee meeting as per protocol. The decision to play Afghanistan was taken at general body forum (SGM in December) and now the members were bypassed when date and venue are announced," a senior office-bearer told PTI on Tuesday. While Shukla was unavailable for comments, it can be confirmed that even he was not in the know of things.

BCCI CEO Johri was unavailable for comment but an official close to secretary Choudhary said that as of now there is no requirement of taking any permission from the tours and fixtures committee.

"The secretary has been entrusted with the powers of taking a decision on all ICC matters," an official close to a ruling faction said.

However, the aggrieved members believe that Supreme Court, when it gave its views on ICC matters, meant that it was pertaining to world governing council meetings and not international fixtures.

The India-Afghanistan Test will be a historic first for the war-ravaged nation where cricket has become the most popular sport. Their leg-spinner Rashid Khan is a sought-after player across T20 leagues and their junior team recently beat Pakistan in the U-19 World Cup opener.