Ishant under BCCI scanner for endorsing gully cricket

It was in the cramped bylanes of Ranjit Nagar that Ishant Sharma took his early lessons in bowling.

It was in the cramped bylanes of Ranjit Nagar that Ishant Sharma took his early lessons in bowling. He still fondly remembers his daily evening matches and cherishes all those wickets he took on tar surfaces. 8220;I loved playing gully cricket. Everybody begins like that,8221; says the pacer as he happily promotes T10 gully cricket, an innovational, eight-city tournament.

But instead of praise, Ishant has earned the board8217;s ire. The BCCI is unhappy over the paceman8217;s association with a ten-over-a-side event as brand ambassador and is likely reprimand the pacer, or issue a show cause notice.

Ishant is BCCI8217;s contracted player and as per stipulations, requires permission before signing up with any cricketing venture. According to a board official, 8220;the 10-over-a-side cricket tournament is unauthorised and thereby no cricketer contracted with the board can be associated with it.8221;

The organisers 8212; Reasonable Communications Private Limited 8212; however, reiterated at the launch that they did not require any BCCI approval as the regulations bar any first-class cricketer from playing in the tournament.

When contacted, BCCI chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty, refused to comment on any action that the board might take on Ishant. 8220;As of now, nothing of that sort has come to my knowledge, and I am not aware of any such format being introduced. It8217;s too early for me say anything on this issue and comment on Ishant being associated with it,8221; he told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, Rajput, who has been appointed as tournament director, will search across Surat, Pune, Ludhiana, Thane, Lucknow, Jalandhar, Kanpur and Nashik to prepare city teams for players within the age group of 15-24 years for a tournament worth Rs 25 lakh in prize money.

Rajput said the tournament would be a great platform for new talent. 8220;There are a lot of cricketers in the gullies who don8217;t get a platform. I think this will give them an opportunity. Cricket has shifted from metros to small towns. If we can promote the game there, India will be the number one team,8221; he added.