Will BCCI heed Ganguly's request?

Will the Bengal-Gujarat Ranji Trophy game be played?

The Sourav Ganguly-led Cricket Association of Bengal has written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India requesting it not to review its decision to reschedue the Bengal versus Gujarat Ranji Trophy game.

'The decision adopted by the BCCI for rescheduling the match is appropriate, the same is also beyond the scope of any review, both in factual as well as constitutional powers,' the CAB letter noted.

'It is sincerely expected that in the longer interest of the game, the decision would not be reviewed abusing the sport of fair play,' CAB Joint Secretary Avishek Dalmiya wrote to BCCI President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke, on Monday.

The Bengal-Gujarat clash in New Delhi from November 5 to 8 was called off without a ball being bowled because of smog.

The game was rescheduled to be played in Visakhapatnam from December 15.

With stiff competition for a place in the quarter-finals in Group A during the business end of the Ranji league, it is learnt that the Mumbai Cricket Association, supported by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, had raised an objection about the game's rescheduling and instead suggested that one point each should have been awarded to both teams.

Mumbai leads the group with 29 points from 7 matches, 5 points clear of Gujarat, with a match in hand.

In 3rd place, Tamil Nadu has 23 points from 7 games. Bengal has 17 points from 6 matches and is placed 6th in the 9 team table.

IMAGE: Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly, right, with Joint Secretary Avishek Dalmiya. Photograph: BCCI