Jadeja pads up, but Dalmiya blocks way

Jadeja, who had not played competitive cricket for more than two years since being banned for five years by the BCCI, in late 2000 for his alleged involvement in match-fixing, had turned up at the DDA-Yamuna Sports Complex here this morning to play for his old club National Stadium Coaching Centre (NSCC) against Golden Hawks.

Former India bowler Vivek Razdan, who was leading NSCC, had given the list of the team to the umpires before the start of play. ‘‘We had got the permission of league convener M K Sharma last night for Jadeja to take part in Thursday’s game’’, Razdan said.

Jadeja, who’d landed in New Delhi from Mumbai last night, reached the ground with his full kit at around 9.30 am. The game was seven overs old when Hawks secretary Ashok Sharma came onto the ground to say he’d been specifically sent by the DDCA to stop Jadeja from playing.

‘‘We didn’t know he had come to play,’’ one of the umpires said when asked why they hadn’t reacted earlier to Jadeja’s presence at the ground.

As players and umpires consulted various DDCA officials, Jadeja’s lawyer Vineet Malhotra reached the ground with a copy of the High Court order.

‘‘I don’t understand why the DDCA officials should behave like this,” he said.

‘‘If this carries on, we will have no option but to file for contempt of court.’’

Eventually, the match was called off, leaving Jadeja fuming. ‘‘I haven’t played for two years. Not playing a few more days would not have made any difference. If they (DDCA) had asked me politely not to play today, I would have done so.’’

The court order, he said, hadn’t specified any time bar. ‘‘If BCCI needs 90 days to file a return case, they can do so. Let them get a stay order first before preventing me from playing’’, Jadeja said.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Dalmiya insisted that the Board had not erred legally.

‘‘The BCCI understands that the award (lifting the ban of Jadeja) is enforceable only after 90 days from the date of its receipt under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. Till then, while we obtain a legal opinion from our lawyers, Jadeja cannot play competitive cricket.’’

The incident caps a remarkable few days in which the BCCI — and its probe into the match-fixing scam — came in for a ringing indictment from the arbitrator, Justice JK Mehra.

The inquiry, he said, was illegal and violated basic principles of justice.