• Home
  • Cricket News
  • When Bcci Ignored Lakshadweeps Request For Affiliation To Support Maldives Cricket

When BCCI Ignored Lakshadweep's Request For Affiliation To Support Maldives Cricket

image-lr3gbgzaSource: x.com

In the midst of escalating tensions between India and Maldives over a derogatory comment made by a Maldivian minister about India, the nations engaged in a war of words. The minister, via a tweet, accused India of targeting Maldives and insinuated that India was facing challenges in competing with Maldives in the beach tourism sector. 

Six years ago, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ignored Lakshadweep's request for affiliation as they wanted to support Maldives Cricket. In 2018, BCCI granted full-member status to nine teams, including some North-Eastern states, Puducherry, Bihar, and Uttarakhand, for the Ranji Trophy. Unfortunately, apart from Puducherry, other union territories, including the Lakshadweep Cricket Association (LCA), were neglected.

Ranjeet Kalra, an executive member of LCA at that time, faced silence from the Committee of Administrators (CoA) when seeking a response. In desperation, he reached out to cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, requesting training opportunities for six young cricketers from Lakshadweep at the Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy. Tendulkar, in a positive move, sent the aspiring cricketers to Pune for training.

Avishek Dalmiya, joint-secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) during that period, took notice of this and expressed his concern in an email to BCCI, urging support for LCA. He emphasized the need for BCCI to extend support to territories within the country and not just focus on international assistance.

Avishek wrote, 

"Through Media Reports, it has been learnt that the BCCI is keen to support Cricket Board of Maldives in their cricket related activities.While it is heartening to note that BCCI is standing beside its neighboring/regional countries in the development of the game, BCCI should also focus on territories within the country." He also brought up LCA's previous letter to BCCI requesting assistance and intervention.

Kalra expressed frustration, stating, 

"It’s been more than a year since we have been writing to the BCCI." Avishek's attempts, even as the chairman of the New Area Development Programme, also yielded no results.

In summary, Despite these efforts, Lakshadweep still awaits affiliation from BCCI. The plea from Lakshadweep to integrate its talented cricketers into the mainstream of Indian cricket remains unheard of, highlighting the ongoing struggle for recognition and support from BCCI.