The long-standing tussle between the Mumbai Cricket Association and the Cricket Club of India, both affiliated units of the BCCI, came to the fore at last Sunday's AGM of the Board following a suggestion to allot international matches directly to CCI.
"There was a suggestion from the chair (BCCI chief N Srinivasan) that CCI should be allotted international games to which I, as MCA president, objected," said MCA president Ravi Savant, who attended the meeting.
"Our contention is that we are not against CCI getting international games but they should be routed through us only as they are under our jurisdiction. Besides, there are several issues like allotment of seats to our members and protecting MCA and BCCI's sponsors' interests in such an eventuality," added the newly-appointed west zone vice-president of the BCCI.
"No resolution (to allot matches to CCI) was passed. It was only a suggestion from the chair. I have already written to the Board (yesterday) and requested for more time to give our detailed objections. We have spent Rs 300 crore on the refurbishment of the Wankhede Stadium and conduct all cricket activities in our jurisdiction which includes CCI which is a private club," clarified Savant.
The issue has assumed significance as MCA has already written to the BCCI requesting the Board to allot to them, what could be Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test during next month's home series against the West Indies.
