Suresh Raina loses captaincy after Modi’s e-mail to ICC

Suresh Raina loses captaincy after Modi’s e-mail to ICC: India’s recent tour to Zimbabwe was led by Ajinkya Rahane, though the first choice to captain of the Indian team was Suresh Raina and not Rahane. Raina was initially selected by the BCCI selectors as the captain of three ODIs and two T20, but they had to rest him and name Rahane the captain after the decision was intruded by top BCCI officials.

As reported by the Indian Express, the top officials of the BCCI committee were not keen on Raina after he was named in an e-mail to ICC CEO David Richardson by Lalit Modi, where he professed that Suresh Raina, along with Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo had accepted offers from a business tycoon, hence popping up his names in the fixing controversy.

The team was selected on 29^th of June two days after the email from Modi became public. The selection committee was in a shock when the BCCI officials asked them to put down Raina’s name as the captain for the Zimbabwe tour.

In the post-selection media interaction, on being asked questions about Raina and why there was no investigation done even when his name kept coming up time and again, the BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said, clearing the names “These three are international players, and the ICC has to conduct an enquiry. So far, ICC has not come out with a report. There is no information from the ICC as of now. In a way, this is clean chit,”

Suresh Raina too issued a statement putting down all the allegations against him, calling them false, “I would like to make my fans around the world aware, and clear the air that I have always played the game in the right spirit and with utmost integrity. I have never been involved in any wrongdoing and all allegations against me are false. Playing cricket is my passion, for whichever team I have represented. I am also figuring out my legal rights to take the right steps ahead in this matter.”

The matter of Raina’s involvement is not new as back in 2010, BCCI had dismissed the report which said that Raina was seen with a woman linked with the bookies during the tour of Sri Lanka the same year.

The BCCI selection committee protocol states that the convener of the selection meeting has to get clearance from the BCCI president before announcing the team. Hence, if the BCCI President is not happy with the team selected he has the authority to overrule the decision of the selection committee.

A few years ago, one of such incident took place while then President of BCCI N Srinivasan used his powers to overrule the decision of the selection committee, including Mohinder Amarnath, to dismiss MS Dhoni as the Test captain and announce Virat Kohli as his successor.