Bihar players on hunger-strike in front of BCCI headquarters

Mumbai, Aug 21 (UNI) Chaotic scenes were witnessed outside the headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during its working committee meeting, with eight Ranji players from Bihar protesting against the injustice done to their state by not allowing them to take part in the domestic cricket season.

The cricketers staged a hunger-strike while the working committee meeting was on, but were later taken away by the police.

''We have met BCCI Chief Sharad Pawar twice. He assured us that the matter will be resolved in a month's time but nothing has happened,'' said Bihar Players Association President Mrityunjai Tiwari.

Sunil Kumar, Dheeraj Kumar, Raju Vals and Nikhil Ranjan were among the one who took part in the protest.

The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) became defunct in 2000, when the previous BCCI regime under Jagmohan Dalmiya granted affiliation to Jharkand, a new state carved out of Bihar.

The present regime under Sharad Pawar took the decision of restoring the affiliation to the BCA. But the implementation of the decision was subject to approval by the Jharkhand High Court where the JCSA has filed a suit on the matter.

''The matter is in the court but what is our fault. All we want is to play cricket,'' Mr Tiwari added.

UNI