Will consider Tendulkar's request: BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to consider cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar's wish to play his 200th and farewell Test in his home town Mumbai.

Kolkata and Mumbai were the frontrunners to host Tendulkar's farewell Test but the legendary batsman in a letter to the BCCI has expressed his desire to play the 200th Test in Mumbai.

"We will consider Tendulkar's request for playing the Test match in Mumbai. We will decide the venue on Tuesday when we meet to finalise the venues of the series," BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla, who also heads the board's tours and fixtures committee, told IANS.

Shukla also said that BCCI was planning a grand farewell for Tendulkar.

The second match of the two-Test series against the West Indies will be Tendulkar's 200th and last. The series was fixed in a hurry to make sure that Tendulkar plays his landmark Test in India.

The first Test will be played Nov 6-10 and the second Nov 14-18. The West Indies will also play three ODIs slated for Nov 21, Nov 24 and Nov 27.

The contest to host Tendulkar's 200th match is now between Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) Wankhede Stadium and Cricket Club of India's (CCI) Brabourne Stadium.

The BCCI's tours and fixtures committee is to meet Tuesday.

Asked if the BCCI was delaying the announcement of the venues in view of the MCA elections slated for Oct 18, Shukla said: "That is a wrong perception in the media."

Former BCCI president Sharad Pawar, who is union agriculture minister, in his bid to come back and take on BCCI chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan in next year's election is contesting for the MCA president's post. Pawar is likely to win unanimously.

Pawar, also a former International Cricket Council (ICC) president, has been a vocal critic of Srinivasan's handling of the spot-fixing and betting scandal in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Pawar had also claimed that such scandals wouldn't have taken place had he been the BCCI chief. Pawar has demanded an investigation by the home ministry in all the 75 matches of the IPL's sixth edition held earlier this year.