Services disqualified from Ranji Trophy

Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India disqualified the Services team from the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy after the team refused to tour Jammu and Kashmir for their opening game on Tuesday.

The Platinum Jubilee year of the Ranji Trophy began on a controversial note with the Services team refusing to tour Jammu and Kashmir citing security reasons.

"The SSCB forfeited the match, having expressed its inability to send its cricket team to Srinagar," the BCCI said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

"The SSCB has therefore been disqualified from participating in the 2009-10 edition of the Ranji Trophy, in accordance with the rules of the BCCI pertaining to Domestic Tournaments.

"A decision on any further action against the SSCB will be taken by the BCCI’s Working Committee," the statement added.

Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association chief and Union Minister, Farooq Abdullah, slammed the BCCI after the Services team refused to turn up for the game.

A livid Abdullah, who said he will "tear apart" the BCCI for the action of the Services team, added that he will ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the matter.

"I want to tear them apart. If Ambassadors can come, how is it that Services team can't come? The people who advised them should be taken to task," the former Chief Minister of the state told CNN-IBN.

Brushing aside suggestions of security concerns, Abdullah said: "Ambassadors don't have security concerns. They are walking on the boulevard and going to Gulmarg. Everyone is coming, wo why did the Services feel they are not safe.

"I think they just want to keep the candle burning so that the people of Jammu and Kashmir suffer."

"I am sad that this will be detrimental to the country," he added.

J&K captain Vinayak Mane said he had no complaints about the security arrangements at the venue.

"We are disappointed," he said. "The Services association decided not to come. It's their decision. The BCCI kept the venue for the game and we are disappointed that there is no game today. I've never met with any incidents as of now which could scare me. I'm fine with the security."

Only a few days ago two Under-22 cricketers from Srinagar were arrested in Bangalore after their kits failed to clear security checks at the Chinnaswamy Stadium during a Champions League T20 game.