Bihar cricket is making news for all the wrong reasons these days. Either it is the poor state of the Moin-ul-Haq stadium, or the fight between state cricket association President and the Secretary. Now, things have turned truly bizarre as 2 teams arrived to represent Bihar for their Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai.
The team that had reached the ground first was picked by the BCA president Rakesh Tiwary, while the other team was chosen by secretary Amit Kumar. Both of the sides wanted to play the match and represent Bihar.
The confusion led to a delayed start to the game after heated exchanges and a scuffle between the officials of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) who were present at the ground. The match eventually began around 1 pm after intervention by local police.
Eventually, the team selected by BCA President Rakesh Tiwary played the game. Interestingly, there was not a single common name in the 2 selected teams.
Speaking to Indian Express, Tiwary said, “We have picked the team on merit and that is the right team. You see the talent that is coming from Bihar. We have a cricketer (Sakib Hussain), who is picked in the IPL. We have a 12-year-old prodigy making his debut in the game. The other is being picked by the secretary who is suspended, so it can’t be the real team.”
In response, the BCA Secretary Amit Kumar said, “First things first: I won the election, and I am an official secretary of the BCA. You can’t suspend a secretary. Secondly, how can a president select a team? Have you ever seen BCCI president Roger Binny announcing the squad? You will always see the signature of Secretary Jay Shah.”
Bihar is playing in the Elite group of Ranji Trophy. 12 years and 284 days old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who played for the Bihar team, has become the fourth-youngest Indian to make his debut in a recorded first-class match.
