Ravi Shastri ridicules the move of BCCI to reduce Mumbai to an associate member

Former Team India director and captain Ravi Shastri has ridiculed the move to strip Mumbai of its full member status according to the new constitution divulged by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He has termed it as ‘joke’ giving the rich cricketing history of Mumbai. “It’s a joke. I feel sad that the glorious history, tradition and contribution of the association to Indian cricket went unnoticed,” Shastri was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

As per the new rules laid down, Mumbai will now get the opportunity to vote only once in 3 years with Maharashtra getting the full member status. The other association from the state, Vidarbha will also face the similar fate. It is surely a big move considering a number of international players Mumbai has produced over the years.

The clause which justified the move in the new constitution stated, “Each state shall be represented by a state cricket association duly recognised by the BCCI and such associations shall be Full Members. No State shall have more than one Full Member at any given point of time.”

Over the years Mumbai has been the most consistent Ranji team winning as many as 41 titles. They were not the only team to be affected by the move as Gujrat, Saurashtra and Baroda will all get to vote only once in 3 years from now on. There was some good news for the North East people with Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim getting the full member status.

The Committee of Administrators finalised the constitution which was appointed by the apex court to implement the reforms suggested by the Lodha Committee. Meanwhile, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri denied the request by state cricket associations for an early release of funds saying it is just not justified as it will violate the tri-partite agreement.