The late switch came after the Meghalaya High Court verdict last week that deemed the original squad “illegal”, ruling in favour of MCA president James Sangma and upholding the suspension of secretary Rayonald Kharkamni and declaring all resolutions and team selections made by the rival Apex Council faction as invalid.
Kharkamni was suspended following complaints that he had failed to act on sexual-harassment complaints from players of the state’s Under-23 women’s team earlier this year. Kharkamni had challenged the decision in court but failed to overturn the verdict.
One of the players who was part of the original squad told Cricinfo on condition of anonymity that they were guaranteed safety from the court verdict by the match referee at the pre-match meeting, only for the “plate to change at night”.
“We even practised right until match eve,” he said. “Our captain [Kishan Lyngdoh] attended the pre-match meeting and we were assured ours was the only squad from Meghalaya that would take the field. But everything changed later at night when our coach Nitesh Sharma was informed by the match referee that the BCCI would be registering a new squad to play the match.
“Despite the confusion, we turned up at the ground on match day. All our kits were ready in the dressing room, but we were asked to vacate because we were the illegal team.”
“We’ve received no communication from the BCCI explaining the status or what would happen next. We don’t know what will happen in the remaining Ranji fixtures, or the rest of the domestic season”
Cricinfo has reached out to the BCCI for a comment to independently verify the sequence of events but hasn’t received a response yet.
The player quoted above also claimed that there was heavy police presence at the ground on the first day of the ongoing match, with armed personnel deployed – it is understood that this was in anticipation of possible protests from the axed players. The players have since been left without clarity on their immediate future, though Cricinfo understands that some of them have been assured by the new faction that they would be allowed to appear for trials in the lead up to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that starts later this month.
“We’ve received no communication from the BCCI explaining the status or what would happen next,” the player said. “We don’t know what will happen in the remaining Ranji fixtures, or the rest of the domestic season.”
Arunachal have played the subsequent rounds of the competition after the BCCI stepped in to constitute a three-member committee (for both men and women) chaired by Khairul Majumdar to pick teams for the remainder of the domestic season.
With inputs from S Balasubramanian
