Supreme Court opens door for Bihar to return to domestic cricket

“As an interim measure, the Bihar Cricket Association shall be eligible to participate in Ranji Trophy and similar such competitions and the BCA, which has been elected by virtue of the order of this court, shall be in-charge of the same,” a bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said while hearing a plea which highlighted the matter. The court said “this order has been passed keeping in view the cause of cricket,” and added that it would not create any equity in favour of the Bihar Cricket Association.

“You all are individually selfish people,” the bench observed during the hearing and said that its order would also not affect the present status of Bihar as an associate member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Feuding bodies

Besides BCA, there are two other cricket associations—the Association of Bihar Cricket (ABC) and the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB)—claiming to be the real representative of the state cricket body.

The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad Singh expressed his happiness following the Supreme Court order on Thursday that opened the door to Bihar’s re-entry.
“We are an associate member of the BCCI but following the bifurcation of Bihar cricket we hadn’t been playing in the Ranji Trophy. After the court order today, I hope that we will be part of the Ranji Trophy again,” Singh told The Indian Express.

He denied that the BCA would have to start from scratch. “Our boys are performing well in different age-group tournaments. For the Ranji Trophy, we will have to rebuild, but the foundation is there. We have players, infrastructure everything,” Singh said.

Bihar has five first-class cricket grounds in Patna, Bhagalpur and Darbhanga. The Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna serves as the BCA’s home venue.

Singh sounded a little iffy about Bihar’s participation in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament this month followed by the Vijay Hazare Trophy in February. “It’s for the BCCI governing body to decide. We will follow the cricket board’s directive,” he said.

CK Khanna, the acting president of the BCCI, told this paper: “We will honour the court order.”

Singh, meanwhile, made a request to all warring factions in Bihar cricket to form a united front for the sake of the game. Infighting between three cricket units in the state was the reason why Bihar had been omitted from the Ranji Trophy.

The BCA, however, had the BCCI affiliation, although Aditya Verma, secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar, made an appeal before the Supreme Court, seeking Bihar’s reinstatement in the Ranji Trophy.

“All I wanted was the Ranji Trophy status for my state and our players. That was my only intention. Now the goal is achieved, I’m a happy man. I’m not greedy for power. And the Cricket Association of Bihar is also a part of the Bihar Cricket Association after bifurcation. But this is irrelevant now,” he said.

He felt it’s a moment to rejoice for his state. “This is a moment to rejoice, because we will be playing the Ranji Trophy again. It doesn’t matter who runs the show. I never fought for the Cricket Association of Bihar’s full membership. I fought for Bihar,” Verma said.