JOIN USSticking to their stand, majority of the State associations boycotted the BCCI annual awards here on Wednesday.
There was no representation from the Karnataka State Cricket Association, the host body, who had argued that it was not right on the part of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to invite only the eligible administrators of the State units as per the Supreme Court order.
After KSCA refused the invite, many other associations followed suit and stuck to their stand.
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), which had said it was not practical for them to be present at the awards function, skipped the event.
MCA won the best performance in BCCI domestic tournament award but with none of their administrators present, Mumbai's India middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane collected the trophy.
Earlier, in a letter to the BCCI, KSCA president Sanjay Desai and secretary Sudhakar Rao had said that it would be humiliating to accept the invitation as the CoA had shabbily treated many cricketers and administrators who have contributed for the game for decades.
“Even if somebody is disqualified, they have been disqualified for administrative reasons. Why should they not be there for the function? Some of them are cricketers. Ashok Anand is a cricketer, Brijesh (Patel) is a cricketer. Whatever may be the reason behind their disqualification, you cannot take away their contributions. Awards function has nothing to do with administration,” KSCA spokesperson Vinay Mruthyunjaya had said on Tuesday.
Vinay also informed that the CoA had not responded to KSCA’s letter.
Australian team absent
The Australian team, which was invited for the event, also was not present on the occasion. Barring Cricket Australia’s CEO, James Sutherland, none of the members from the visiting team attended the function. The Steve Smith-led side had suffered a 75-run defeat in the second Test on Tuesday amidst some acrimonious on-field incidents.