Srinivasan at disciplinary panel meet, raises eyebrows

Indian cricket board president Narayanaswami Srinivasan raised a few eyebrows as he chaired the meeting of the disciplinary committee that served life bans on tainted cricketers S.Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan here Friday.

The self-recused Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI)chief remained unfazed and told IANS: "I have chaired the meeting."

Asked if he was morally right to chair the meeting, Srinivasan said: "What more important is that we have taken some strict actions against the tainted cricketers. I am still the president of the BCCI and have the right to chair the meeting."

Srinivasan had stepped aside as the BCCI chief, handing over the day-to-day affairs to Jagmohan Dalmiya, after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested by Mumbai police for betting in the IPL.

Srinivasan had also filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court July 4 that he would return to the board chief's post only after the commission that was set up by the board comes up with a full and final decision against Gurunath and India Cements.

But the commission July 28 gave a clean chit to Gurunath and India Cements of any betting the IPL, paving way for Srinivasan's return to the board.

However, the Bombay High Court ruled that the commission was illegal and the BCCI then appealed against the ruling in the Supreme Court.

The panel comprising Srinivasan and BCCI vice presidents Niranjan Shah and Arun Jaitley banned Rajasthan Royals cricketers S. Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan for life for their involvement in the spot-fixing scandal.

Amit Singh and Siddharth Trivedi were handed five and one year bans, while young left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh has been let off with a warning. Ajit Chandila's case will be taken up later.