Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has refused to intervene in Ankeet Chavan’s ban case. The body in its apex council meeting on June 11 came to the conclusion of not challenging the apex body BCCI and insisted the Mumbai spinner should seek the court’s order in the given matter. Ankeet Chavan was one of the three players to be slapped with a lifetime ban by BCCI for their involvement in the infamous spot-fixing scandal in IPL 2013. Chavan had recently requested the MCA to have his life ban revoked and be allowed to play. In a letter to the state association, the former Mumbai spinner had told that his quantum of punishment has been reduced to seven years, like S Sreesanth's, and he has an order from the Ombudsman of the MCA.
"The life ban was imposed by the BCCI. As it stands now, the BCCI doesn't want to review it, a policy it has maintained even in previous cases like Mohammad Azharuddin or Manoj Prabhakar. They got reprieves from the courts, something S Sreesanth too had done. Ankeet will have to go to court and obtain an order," said an MCA office-bearer after Friday's meeting. Chavan has been pleading with the association that he be treated on par with Sreesanth, who has been permitted to play authorised and official cricket by his association in Kerala after a Supreme Court order last year. Chavan, on the other hand, has been treated indifferently although both got punished for the same offence. "I have not had any communication from the MCA yet. I don't know what I can do," Chavan said, stating that he has an order from BCCI ethics officer DK Jain reducing the sentence to seven years, which he has already served. Chavan a left-arm spinner, has played 18 first class games for Mumbai.
