The commencement of the Ranji Trophy season witnessed a bizarre and tumultuous start as two teams, each claiming to represent Bihar, turned up for the game against Mumbai at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna. The longstanding infighting between two factions of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) spilled over onto the field, resulting in heated exchanges and a minor scuffle between officials, causing a delayed start to the match.
Eventually, the intervention of local police authorities paved the way for the Bihar-Mumbai season-opener to commence around 1 pm.
In the early hours of the morning, two teams arrived at the ground, with one selected by BCA president Rakesh Tiwary participating in the game. The other team, supported by secretary Amit Kumar, was left in limbo. Interestingly, not a single cricketer was named in both squads, adding to the peculiar circumstances. Both Tiwary and Kumar claimed that theirs was the legitimate team.
Tiwary asserted as per Indian Express, “We have picked the team on merit, and that is the right team. You see the talent that is coming from Bihar. We have a cricketer (Sakib Hussain) picked in the IPL. We have a 12-year-old prodigy making his debut in the game. The other is being picked by the secretary who is suspended, so it can’t be the real team.”
In response, Secretary Amit challenged Tiwary’s suspension claims, stating, “First things first: I won the election, and I am an official secretary of the BCA. You can’t suspend a secretary. Secondly, how can a president select a team? Have you ever seen BCCI president Roger Binny announcing the squad? You will always see the signature of Secretary Jay Shah.”
Twin Ranji Trophy teams ft Bihar
Later in the day, the BCA, in a press release, accused suspended Secretary Amit of fabricating a fake team and attacking an official at the gate. The release stated, “There was a life-threatening attack on BCA’s OSD Manoj Kumar by those involved in the fake team. The miscreants have been identified, and action will be taken against them.”
BCA President Tiwary also blamed Aditya Verma, the original petitioner in the 2013 spot-fixing case, for the chaos at the stadium, asserting, “His only job is to ruin Bihar’s image. He is creating a nuisance because his son was not picked. He tries to put pressure on us, but we have never listened to him as we pick teams according to merit.”
However, Secretary Amit countered the claim, saying, “He is blaming Aditya Verma, but why was he silent when he was on his side? BCA is the only association where the secretary has no power.”
As for Verma, he labeled this as a fight between the president and secretary, stating, “This is the fight between both of them. My son has done well in the trials. If my son was picked in one of the squads, is it my fault? He (Tiwary) is after me because I am questioning their corruption; they blame it on me.”
Despite the unsavory start to the day, the hosts, Bihar, displayed resilience on the field. After winning the toss, they restricted the formidable Mumbai side to 235/9. The standout performer for Bihar was veteran pacer Veer Pratap Singh, who claimed figures of 4/32.
