NCP chief Pawar, backed by the ruling Bal Mahaddalkar group, and Patil are the only two contestants left in the fray for the post of the President after the withdrawals of Ravi Savant and Ashish Shelar, both from the Mahaddalkar panel, before today's deadline.
Pawar told reporters before addressing his supporters that he probably would have withdrawn from the contest if rival candidate Patil had given an undertaking not to demand international and IPL games to be played at the D Y Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai of which Patil is the President.
Pawar also said that granting of international matches for a particular venue needs the green signal from the ICC.
"There are only two venues in Mumbai which have been approved by the ICC - Wankhede Stadium of MCA and Cricket Club of India's Brabourne stadium.
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"For hosting IPL mathes at the Wankhede Stadiunm MCA gets paid in lakhs which is beneficial to the association," Pawar explained.
He was reacting to Patil's remarks two days ago, asking Pawar to give his blessing to his group 'Cricket First' and withdraw from contesting for the President's post.
Former Test and Mumbai opener Lalchand Rajput will be contesting for the Joint Secretary's post from Patil's panel.