Praveen Kumar stars as ONGC wins GG Dutt title

In a thrilling final, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation defeated Air India by three runs in the final of the Goswami Ganesh Dutt cricket tournament at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Wednesday. The match was rescheduled for Wednesday after wet outfield due to rains ensured the game couldn’t be played on Sunday, June 14, the original day scheduled.

ONGC skipper Suhail Sharma won the toss and elected to bat. They could score only 194 for seven in 40 overs. Nitish Rana made 46 (4x4, 56 balls) while UP Ranji player Tanmay Srivastava hit 48. Sumit Narwal (32*) and Radhey Shyam Gupta (22) also chipped in. Tanmay and Nitish had put on 68 for the third wicket in 14.5 overs. Veteran left-arm spinner Sonu Sharma took 4 wickets for 46 runs in 10 overs.

In reply, Air India failed to cross the target and were all out for 191 in 39.5 overs, losing the match by 3 runs. For the Airmen, Manvinder Bisla top-scored with 42, Kunj Sharma got 31 while Rahul Yadav hit 27.

However, it was India Test discard Praveen Kumar who helped ONGC win, taking 3 wickets for 25 runs in his spell to restrict Air India. Birender Singh and Suhail Sharma took two wickets each.

SCOREBOARD

OIL AND NATURAL GAS CORP.  194 FOR 7 IN 40 OVERS  (SAMARTH SINGH C RAHUL YADAV (WK) B SANJAY PAHAL 00, SANDEEP SHARMA B SONU SHARMA 18 ( 3X4 B33), TANMAY SRIVASTAVA C DEEPAK JOON B SONU SHARMA 48 ( 3X4 B71), NITISH RANA C RAHUL YADAV B SARFRAZ 46 ( 4X4 B56), RADHEY SHYAM GUPTA B SONU SHARMA 22,( 1X4 B37), SUMIT NARWAL NOT OUT 32 ( 1X4 2X6 B27),GAURAV TOMAR C ADITYA KAUSHIK B SANJAY PAHAL 01, SUHAIL SHARMA ST RAHUL YADAV B SONU SHARMA 2, PARVEEN KUMAR NOT OUT 10 ( 1X6 B6) EXTRA 15 ( B 4, LB 4, W 6)

 FOW: 1/00, 2/37, 3/105, 4/136, 5/166, 6/173, 7/181

BOWLING: SANJAY PAHAL 8-0-33-2, KUNJ SHARMA 5-0-27-0, SONU SHARMA 10-1-46-4, SARFRAZ 7-0-28-1, SUBHASH CHAUDHARY 6-0-34-0, MANVINDER BISLA 4-0-18-0

AIR INDIA: 191 ALL OUT IN 39.5 OVRERS  (ADITYA KAUSHIK C SUHAIL SHARMA B PRAVEEN KUMAR 9 (1XD4 B18), MANINDER BISLA C SUHAIL SHARMA B BIRENDER SINGH 42 ( 4X4 B66), DEEPAK JOON B NITISH RANA 12 ( B29), RAHUL YADAV C GAURAV TOMAR B SUHAIL SHARMA 27( 2X4 B42), HIMANSHU ASHNORA B SUHAIL SHARMA 3( B6), SHIVAM SHARMA C SUHAIL SHARMA B PRAVEEN KUMAR 14 ( 1X4 1X6 B14), KUNJ SHARMA C GAURAV TOMAR B BIRENDER SINGH 31( 1X4 2X6 B26), SONU SHARMA RUN OUT( BY PRAVEEN KUMAR)  23( 2X6 B22) , SARFRAZ LBW PRAVEEN KUMAR 00(B1), SANJAY PAHAL B SUMIT NARWAL 2( B4), SUBHASH CHAUDHARY NOT OUT 5 ( B11) EXTRA 23 ( B 1, LB 3, W 19)

FOW: 1/29, 2/68, 3/102, 4/105, 5/127, 6/128, 7/165, 8/165, 9/170

BOWLING: PRAVEEN KUMAR 8-0-25-3, SUMIT NARWAL 7-0-47-1, BIRENDER SINGH 6.5-0-38-2, SUHAIL SHARMA 10-0-35-2, NITISH RANA 5-0-21-1, VISHAL CHAUDHARY 3-0-21-0

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:

BEST ALL ROUNDER:  SUMIT NARWAL OF ONGC

MAN OF THE TOURNAMENT:   TANMAY SRIVASTAVA OF ONGC

BEST BATSMAN:   ADITYA KAUSHIK OF AIR INDIA

BEST BOWLER:  KUNJ SHARMA OF AIR INDIA

Champion ONGC team with the trophy

ONGC captain Suhail Sharma receives trophy from
national selector Saba Karim 

DDCA looks for 'dues' of a crore each from GMR and bookmyshow to resolve crisis

On Tuesday, the DDCA finance committee met and sought to resolve the issue that is arising due to constraints of cash. The DDCA, which should be having plenty of cash as it reportedly got 33 crore rupees from the BCCI for the last year, has nothing in its kitty. An amount of 7 crore rupees is locked in a Central Bank of India account which is frozen due to internal squabbling. The BCCI is yet to pay them 10 crore rupees as the DDCA has not yet submitted the balance sheet. So bad is the situation that the dues of officials, umpires and even subsidies to clubs have remained unpaid.

BCCI vice-president CK Khanna, it has been learnt, assured that the clubs will get their subsidies. A few hours before the meeting, the Sports Working Committee convenor threatened to set up a parallel body and run cricket after collecting money from clubs and cricket lovers.

Treasurer Ravindra Manchanda looked very upset with the ongoing situation. “We sought to resolve the issue in the meeting,” he said. “We have decided to give DDCA clubs the subsidies as soon as cash comes in our hand.”

While the resolution to be given to Central Bank in order to defreeze it was prepared by the finance committee and is expected to be given this week after delay from last week, the DDCA is banking on the amount of one crore rupees it will get from GMR, owners of the Delhi Daredevils franchise. “We are supposed to get one crore rupees from GMR and we are also expecting close to a crore from bookmyshow.com as part of gate money from the India vs West Indies match,” said Manchanda. “We will meet them on Thursday and press for that.”

However, it should be noted that the issue of the gate money from India-West Indies match last year snowballed into a controversy following confusion over whether the money has been given or not or to whom the money was given.

Tihara threatens to form rival committee

The fight between the various factions of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) is out in the open. On Tuesday morning, Vinod Tihara dispatched a letter to general secretary Anil Khanna threatening that he would create a rival faction to run cricketing activities called ‘DDCA Affiliated Clubs and Delhi’s Cricket sympathisers’.

The aim of the body will be to collect funds from the sympathisers and cricket clubs to pay club subsidies, ground fees and other expenses needed to run cricket in the Capital. Laying the blame squarely on DDCA and BCCI vice-president CK Khanna, Tihara’s letter says the DDCA has failed to give account of the 33 crore rupees it received from the BCCI for the year.  

The letter also adds that such a thing wasn’t possible during the period when SP Bansal would travel to BCCI meetings instead of CK Khanna. Tihara has stated six things the expected rebel committee will do --- to run league matches, provide kits, clothing (especially to institutional clubs), subsidies to clubs and organise annual function.

However, while the letter lays the blame squarely on CK Khanna, some officials say that it misses out one clear point --- DDCA’s 7 crore rupees are lying frozen in the Central Bank account and that is primarily due to the objection placed by sports secretary, Sunil Dev, a close confidant of Tihara these days. Dev ensured that the money couldn’t be withdrawn as the DDCA executive committee failed to obtain the signature of Dev, who was one of the signatories. Dev was later removed from the list of signatories for his refusal as DDCA executive committee decided to go ahead in its bid to defreeze the account by appointing another signatory to replace Dev.

In a recent letter to vice-president Chetan Chauhan, former cricketer Kirti Azad hit out at Tihara saying that while the sports committee convenor is criticising DDCA for not releasing money to run the league and cricket, he has been quietly backing Sunil Dev in his bid to ensure that the money is not released and the account not defreezed by Central Bank.

Meanwhile, not even three hours had passed after Tihara had released the letter addressed to Anil Khanna, Azad shot out a letter to Chetan Chauhan laying out travelling expenses of Sneh Bansal and close associate Ravi Jain, a joint secretary in DDCA. Bansal, it appears, has the backing of Tihara these days and that is clear from the various letters flying around. He said that DDCA was sleeping and only he pointed the ‘round tripping’ of 1.55 crore rupees by Bansal. He also said that it was only he who pointed out the fact that Bansal had taken airfare of one trip from both DDCA and BCCI. It was Azad’s disclosure that led Bansal to eventually return the money charged to DDCA.

He sent out attachments which list the amount spent by Ravi Jain from DDCA’s exchequers for travel.

According to the attachment Ravi Jain spent 2,56,859 in 2011-12 (including 1,50,000 on TA/DA at the rate of 10,000 rupees per day), 1,12,239 in 2012-13 (including 30,000 on TA/DA at the rate of 10,000 rupees per day) and 1,32,985 in 2013-14.

However, a section of the DDCA says that he was authorised to claim and spend as he was either attending a BCCI meeting or attending an IPL workshop on behalf of the Delhi association.

But Azad points out in his letter to Chetan Chauhan, “please check about similar escapades by the DDCA Media manager, Ravi Jain, who travels to BCCI meetings, often uninvited and stays there for 4 days at a stretch, for a one session meeting. Please take steps to recover all this wasted money from him directly. Rs 10000/ per diem DA should also be recovered from him, since he has no business to be there in BCCI meeting in the first place.”

Members getting frustrated, write '420' under SP Bansal's nameplate

It seems the members are getting frustrated by the day with the DDCA failing to take concrete action against the officials implicated in corruption. After member and former international cricketer Kirti Azad wrote a mail to Chetan Chauhan asking him to take action, he went to meet the former India opener on Saturday. What happened in the meeting is not known except that Chauhan again assured that the association will take action. However, one of the members gave vent to his emotions after writing words “Chor 420” under the nameplates of president Sneh Bansal and general secretary Anil Khanna. The embarrassed DDCA staff immediately wiped off the words before anyone could click pictures. Ashok Katyal, a member of DDCA close to the current sports working committee and also a member of the GG Dutt tournament organising committee, sent out a message through whatsapp criticising the act. He called it ‘sharmnaak’ (a shame).

Case of 10 crore rupees, DDCA calls finance committee meeting

The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has planned to hold its finance committee meeting on Tuesday, June 16. The meeting will decide on the course of action to be taken, particularly to hand over the balance sheet for 2013-14 to BCCI and get the outstanding funds released from it.  

The BCCI is withholding 10 crore rupees that are due to the DDCA because the Delhi officials have failed to provide the balance sheet, that show the financial position of a company, to the Indian board.

The DDCA has been facing cash crunch for quite a while and internal squabbles like the fight between Bansal-Tihara-Sunil Dev trio and others have already put them in a fix. A sum of 7 crore rupees is already lying with the Central Bank of India with the account frozen. The account was frozen a few months back after Chetan Chauhan had transferred the sum into the account and sports secretary Sunil Dev had termed the act illegal and lodged a complaint, leading to the freezing of the account.

A desperate DDCA had to approach the BCCI who released 3 crore rupees out of the outstanding 13 crore. The board released the money a couple of months back. However, DDCA’s dues on property tax, electricity bills, salaries and other expenses are expected to consume the three crore anytime soon. Hence the desperation to get the remaining 10 crore released from the Indian board.

“We have called the meeting on Tuesday. All the top office bearers will participate in it and decide the future course of action,” said treasurer Ravindra Manchanda.

Every association gets money from the board and a big association like Delhi gets a lot more than other smaller associations. It is strange that despite sitting on a pot of wealth, DDCA has been failing to get the paperwork done properly, resulting in non-payment of dues to officials, staff, players and ground-owners.

To defreeze account, DDCA passes resolution to remove Sunil Dev as signatory

The Delhi and District Association (DDCA)’s executive committee (EC) this week decided to go ahead with an important resolution in its bid to defreeze its account in Central Bank of India and free up the R7 crore that is lying in it. The Central Bank had frozen the account after it emerged that the Sports Secretary, Sunil Dev had objected to the transfer of DDCA money to that account. The freezing of the account had put DDCA in a quandary and left it with no funds at all to pay the umpires, clubs and even ground fees.

However, the executive committee met on Tuesday and 14 of the 20 members, including one government nominee, present decided to approach the bank to defreeze the account and importantly remove Sunil Dev from the list of four signatories whose signs are necessary to reopen the account. There are 27 members in the executive committee. The lack of Dev’s signature had created the trouble.  The Bank had told DDCA to either get Dev’s signature or remove him from the list of signatories, which the DDCA have now done. The DDCA have replaced him with Anil Khanna, the same person who was removed from the post of general secretary during the SP Bansal scandal last December where R1.55 crore of DDCA was allegedly siphoned off.  The other three signatories are treasurer Ravindra Manchanda, vice-president Chetan Chauhan and club secretary Sunil Jain.

Interestingly, Sunil Jain was not even present at the emergent executive committee meeting although officials say that his sign is already there on bank statement and he is supportive of the need to defreeze the account. Among the others absent from the meeting were Sunil Dev, who sent a letter to EC and the bank citing his unavailability, forcing EC to remove him from the list of signatories. Salil Seth was also absent. Out of 20, while 14 signed for the resolution, 5 voted against and one Anil Jain abstained from it.

The executive committee will now present the resolution, in written form, to the bank within a day or two. Whether the bank agrees to open the account is yet to be seen.

Meanwhile, former India cricketer and World Cup winner Kirti Azad has written to vice-president Chetan Chauhan apparently questioning DDCA’s will to sort the issue. He has provided a copy of another resolution taken on December 9 where 14 directors decided to remove president SP Bansal and general secretary Anil Khanna on charges of illegal transfer of R1.55 crore of DDCA’s money. Azad says in his letter that having Anil Khanna as one of the signatories has washed away all his past sins.

Interestingly, despite that December resolution, Bansal remains president of the DDCA.  Some insiders say that Bansal-Dev-Tihara group had got work done and people like Bansal, Ravi Jain reinstated in their old positions in return of helping defreeze the Central Bank account. It however didn’t happen and the EC had to resort to a resolution.

Fight on: Dharna cancelled after CK Khanna felicitation

Over the last one week, the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) saw posters of rivals being put up at the entrance gate. One attacked the Chetan Chauhan-CK Khanna duo while the other in retaliation hit out at SP Bansal-Sunil Dev-Vinod Tihara.

The DDCA politics has got worse after Chetan Chauhan transferred an amount close to R7 crore in the Central Bank of India. Mr Chauhan said that he had to transfer the DDCA money after SP Bansal was caught transferring R1.55 crore of DDCA money to the accounts of private company. However, Sunil Dev, the sports secretary, who is now with DDCA president Mr SP Bansal lodged a complaint saying that Chauhan’s act tantamounted to embezzlement as his signature was not taken for the resolution that allowed money to be deposited to Central Bank account.  

So as of now the amount of R6.7 crore is lying with the bank with the club subsidies, salaries and ground dues unable to be paid.

This week, a group of directors will approach the bank, hoping the amount will be released and the dues paid.

Things were expected to get worse as Vinod Tihara, the convenor of the sports working committee and his fellow officials were supposed to hold a dharna at the Jantar Mantra on Sunday along with club secretaries. Now, Mr Tihara is siding with Mr Dev. The account was reportedly frozen at the behest of this group and they know that the money can’t be withdrawn. 

However, the plan fell as a DDCA sports working committee member Mahesh Bhati organised a successful felicitation ceremony for Mr CK Khanna, upon his election as one of the five vice-presidents of the BCCI. Mr Khanna was also elected as the Chairman, Junior Selection Committee. The event saw 67 club secretaries attending the function and applauding Mr Khanna, forcing the dharna to be cancelled as its backers couldn't find support.  

 

CK Khanna (middle) with Mahesh Bhati