Bizarre scenes were witnessed in Patna on Friday as two teams representing Bihar turned up to play the Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium.
A heated exchange and minor altercation ensued as the tussle between the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) president and secretary spilled onto the field.
President's team plays vs Mumbai
The president Rakesh Tiwary had picked one team while the secretary Amit Kumar had selected the other one. The one picked by the president played the match eventually.
But both officials claimed that their team was legitimate even though none had a cricketer listed in their squad.
BCA secretary suspended
“We have picked the team on merit and that is the right team. You see the talent that is coming from Bihar. We have a cricketer (Sakib Hussain), who is picked in the IPL.
"We have a 12-year-old prodigy making his debut in the game. The other is being picked by the secretary who is suspended, so it can’t be the real team,” Tiwary told The Indian Express.
BCA statement
The BCA later said in a statement that Amit Kumar came up with a fake team and even accused him of attacking an official at the gate.
“There was a life-threatening attack on BCA’s OSD Manoj Kumar by those involved in the fake team. The miscreants have been identified and action will be taken against them,” the BCA release said.
Kumar however, refuted Tiwary's claims and challenged his suspension.
“First things first: I won the election, and I am an official secretary of the BCA. You can’t suspend a secretary. Secondly, how can a president select a team? Have you ever seen BCCI president Roger Binny announcing the squad? You will always see the signature of Secretary Jay Shah,” he said.
