Board to get tough with fitness of players

Mumbai, Sep 27 (IANS) The Indian cricket board Saturday decided to get tough with the fitness of international players. The physiotherapist and trainer will have to pronounce a player fit or otherwise on the day the selection committee meets to pick a side, they cannot give post-dated fitness certificates.

At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) here, the board members expressed unhappiness over players being told to rest after their selection. From now on the fitness reports of players will have to be with the selection committee on the day they meet to select the team, said a senior Board official.

'The physio and trainer will be held accountable for their fitness reports and the players cannot pick and choose their games on grounds of fitness,' he said.

The two-day AGM was over in the pre-lunch session on the first day itself as the entire agenda was gone through in just three hours, less than the time a side takes to complete its innings in a One-Day International. The election was over in a jiffy without anyone forcing a contest and all reports were tabled and adopted without a murmur.

Normally, the AGM is held over two days because of the disputes over the election, but now that the election process has been streamlined the extra day has become redundant. Some members still felt Sunday could have been utilised to discuss cricket matters elaborately.

As expected the AGM was told to have no anomaly in the nomination of national selectors. The media doubts over the eligibility of Narendra Hirwani was explained, saying the statement issued by the Board's office had a flaw as it failed to mention that a player should have played his 'last international' ten years ago to be eligible to become a selector and not 'retired ten years ago' as mentioned after the August working committee meeting.

The Board has also decided to enforce a ban on board members speaking in different voices on its behalf. From now on only the authorised office-bearers will interact with the media. All decisions will henceforth be conveyed to the media through a statement.

Ranji Trophy players will be paid Rs 37,000 a day on match days, while a Sports Medicine Centre will be set up to help cricketers as well as sportspersons from other disciplines.

Amish Saheba and Suresh Shastri have been renominated on the International Cricket Council (ICC) panel of umpires and Shavik tarapore will replace G. Pratap Kumar as third umpire.

The Board will celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the first Test India played at home against England in 1933 Dec 17.

The AGM has also decided to grant affiliate membership to Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh associations, while Bihar and Chattisgarh have been given associate membership.

The AGM has asked the working committee to decide on Uttarakhand's membership as three association applied for affiliation. A Board committee will verify the credentials of the three applicants before taking a decision.