Hiken Shah appeals against suspension

Mumbai batsman Hiken Shah has challenged his suspension from official cricket by the BCCI in the Bombay High Court. The board had suspended Shah with immediate effect in mid July after he was found guilty of having "approached" a Mumbai team-mate.

On behalf of Shah, advocate Som Sinha filed a writ petition in the court last week. A two-judge bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice BP Colabawalla heard the matter on August 4. The judges didn't grant any immediate relief to the petitioner but have asked the BCCI to file a written reply to the objections raised by Shah's counsel. The case will next be heard again on August 11.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Shah's petition is based on the fact that he has been suspended without providing any details in writing about his alleged breaches. Shah is also understood to have noted in his plea that he had been granted permission to travel to the UK to play for the minor counties.

While announcing Shah's suspension, the BCCI release had noted: "Hiken Shah made a corrupt approach to one of his colleagues from first-class cricket, who is also a member of one of the IPL teams. The approached player immediately informed the incident to his franchise team. The franchise team followed the process of informing the incident to the Anti-Corruption Unit of the BCCI. Based on the information, BCCI President, Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, instructed ACU to conduct an immediate inquiry into the matter.

"After a detailed inquiry into the reported incident, the inquiry commissioner found Hiken Shah guilty of committing breach of Articles 2.1.1; 2.1.2; and 2.1.4 of the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code for participants and recommended their provisions to the BCCI President."

Shah, meanwhile, had stressed he was innocent. "All I will say is I am innocent and I will fight to prove it," he had told ESPNcricinfo.