CHENNAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday handed a three-month suspension to Uttar Pradesh and India A player Rinku Singh for participating in an unauthorised T20 tournament in Abu Dhabi. This newspaper reported the violation of BCCI’s rules by the Kolkata Knight Riders cricketer on May 21. Rinku, who was picked in India A squad for two four-day matches against a visiting Sri Lanka side, was also withdrawn from the squad.
The all-rounder didn’t feature in the first match which the hosts won by an innings and 205 runs. Rinku’s suspension starts on June 1. Rinku slammed a century (104) and claimed two wickets in the final helping his side Deccan Gladiators to Abu Dhabi Cricket’s T20 Ramadan Cup title earlier this month. He was also adjudged the Man of the Match for his all-round show in the summit clash.
While the BCCI decided to suspend Rinku to send out a strong message to those violating rules, the Indian board let veteran all-rounder Irfan Pathan off with just a warning for forwarding his name to be included in the 2019 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) draft without obtaining prior approval from the board.
“We want to send a strong message to the youngsters that there would be consequences if they don’t follow the rules and regulations. I agree that Irfan is a senior player but he ultimately didn’t play the tournament,” BCCI’s GM Cricket Operations Saba Karim was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the BCCI in its statement said, “It has been brought to the notice of the board that Rinku Singh participated in an unauthorized T20 tournament in Abu Dhabi. Singh did not seek permission from the BCCI before taking part in the T20 league, hence directly violating the BCCI rules and regulations. As per the BCCI norms, a player registered with the board cannot play in any tournaments abroad without the board’s permission. Singh, therefore, has been suspended with immediate effect for a period of three months starting June 1, 2019.
“He has been removed from the current India A squad set to play a multi-day game against Sri Lanka A starting May 31, 2019. The BCCI will not tolerate such violations in the future and strict actions will be taken if a player is found violating the BCCI rules and regulations,” added the statement.Ironically, it was not only Irfan who was not sanctioned by the BCCI. Former India under-19 captain Anuj Rawat escaped punishment despite playing in an unsanctioned T20 league in Mauritius.