New Delhi: A friendly match was held among members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at Ahmedabad’s rebuilt Sardar Patel Motera Stadium Wednesday. The two teams of 11 were led by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah, with former IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, who is set to become the new BCCI vice-president, acting as the referee.
As the match began at around 3 pm, Shah’s team batted first, Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA)’s operations manager Vishal Kumar Singh told ThePrint. The friendly 12-over match was scheduled to end at around 6.30 pm.
The match has been organised a day before the BCCI’s 89th Annual General Meeting (AGM) is set to take place Thursday in the same city. The introduction of two new IPL franchises, cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics and a tax exemption issue related to hosting the 2021 T20 World Cup will be on the agenda.
There has been speculation on whether Ganguly will be asked about his brand endorsements and allegations of conflict of interest, but there’s no clarity so far. According to a DNA report, 28 members of the BCCI electoral board are set to attend the annual meeting.
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Suggestions for Motera stadium
This Monday, BCCI officials and a team from Star Sports, the host broadcaster in India, were accompanied by GCA officials on a tour of Motera Stadium. ICC match referee Javagal Srinath, who was also present, shared some valuable feedback with the GCA to prepare the stadium for future games, the state body tweeted.
ICC match referee Mr Javagal Srinath accompanied with the BCCI officials and the Star Sports team came for inspection at the New Motera Stadium. He shared some valuable feedback with the GCA officials which will definitely help GCA to make it better in the coming Games.@BCCI pic.twitter.com/eIM5XjrDJm
— Gujarat Cricket Association (@CricketGujarat) December 22, 2020
Earlier this month, Jay Shah, son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, announced that the Motera Stadium would host two of the four Tests and all five T20 internationals when the England team visits India in February-March next year.
Inaugurated GCA's indoor cricket academy and felicitated @parthiv9 for his contribution to India and Gujarat Cricket. The new facility will add value to the state-of-the-art Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera. Stadium will be ready to host #INDvsENG games in Feb-March, 2021. pic.twitter.com/J6r0CN2RMc
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) December 10, 2020
Motera Stadium, arguably the largest stadium in the world with a seating capacity of over 1,10,000, was where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hosted US President Donald Trump at an event titled ‘Namaste Trump’ on his maiden visit to India in February this year.
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Jay Shah is one of the hidden gems of Indian Cricket and has got the powerful post of secretary of BCCI, the richest cricket body in the world, only based on merit. People who claim nepotism or dynasticsm had a role to
play in him getting this plum post only because he is the son of Shri Amit Shah are those who are not with the New India.