Bihar players protest in front of BCCI office

Eight Ranji players belonging to Bihar Players Association (BPA) protested in front of the Indian board's office demanding that Bihar be allowed to take part in the domestic cricket season.

The cricketers sat on a hunger strike at the BCCI headquarters where its working committee meeting was on, but were taken away by the police.

"We have met BCCI chief Sharad Pawar twice. He assured us that the matter will be resolved in a month's time but nothing has happened," said Mrityunjai Tiwari, BPA president. Sunil Kumar, Dheeraj Kumar, Raju Vals and Nikhil Ranjan were among others who took part in the protest.

The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) became defunct in 2000, when the previous BCCI regime under Jagmohan Dalmiya granted affiliation to Jharkand, a new state carved out of Bihar.

The present regime under Sharad Pawar took the decision of restoring the affiliation to the BCA. But the implementation of the decision was subject to approval by the Jharkhand High Court where the JCSA has filed a suit on the matter. "The matter is in the court but what is our fault," Tiwary said. "All we want is to play cricket."