Refuting allegations of selective discrimination or vindictive attitude towards Mohammad Azharuddin, the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday claimed the former India cricket captain had no basis to allege that it had adopted defective procedures.

Arguing the suit filed by Azharuddin, challenging his permanent disqualification from participation in Test cricket before the City civil court, the Board's counsel said under BCCI rules the president has been given wide powers to deal with allegations of irregularities.

Whenever the president is fed with any allegation against any player, he takes the first step of initiating a preliminary inquiry to verify the veracity of the allegations, the counsel said.

On being satisfied that there is some truth in the allegations against a particular player, he refers the matter to the board which appoints an inquiry officer who conducts a regular inquiry that culminates into action against the errant player, the counsel added, charging that in Azharuddin's case, even the preliminary inquiry report was made available to the former skipper and he was given all opportunities to represent his case.

Having failed in establishing his innocence, Azharuddin was now making baseless allegations against the BCCI, he argued.

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