Jadeja has insisted that the Indian players did not instigate any altercation or brawl © AFP Enlarge
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Indian allrounder Ravindra Jadeja has apologised to the BCCI for his involvement in the incident at a St Lucia pub shortly after India's exit from the ICC World Twenty20, but insisted that he along with six other Indian players did not instigate any trouble or retaliate against the Indian fans who abused them at the pub.

In a letter addressed to the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, a copy of which is with Cricinfo, Jadeja said the cricketers were taunted by the fans, who refused to back down even after a request from the players. He said the players were not involved in a 'brawl', as it was believed to be earlier, but nevertheless was apologetic that the incident even took place. After the incident was made public, the BCCI responded by issuing show-cause notices to seven of the eight players in the pub.

"I regret that the board has sent me a notice for the incident in the West Indies, and please accept my apology," Jadeja wrote. "I had gone to the restaurant (pub) along with other Indian team members. Some other guests, which I presume were Indian origins of the USA, also came to the restaurant and on seeing us they started abusing us, this may be because they were unhappy with our poor performance. We requested them not to abuse us but they did not stop inspite of our repeated request. No way was I involved in any ugly brawl and I went to the pub only to have dinner with my team-mates."

Jadeja had a poor tournament, where he failed in all departments.

The other players issued notices were Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, and M Vijay. The BCCI bosses, including its president Shashank Manohar, were said to be highly critical of the incident after hearing the report of team manager Ranjib Biswal in person. However, Biswal denied reports of a brawl, and said it was just a creation of the media.

Srinivasan, when contacted, did not want to discuss the matter and refused to comment.