Meghalaya Cricket Association's Infighting Leads to Last-Minute Team Change Ahead of Ranji Trophy Match

The day before Meghalaya’s Ranji Trophy Plate Group encounter against Nagaland began like any other pre-match day. The team practised as usual and attended the pre-match meeting with the match referee. In the evening, they got a call from the match referee conveying the bad news that they are no longer the official team representing the state association. “We all had gone for practice and during the pre-match meeting, the match referee (Arindam Sarkar) had told us, ‘You guys don’t worry. You will be playing as the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) has accepted you guys’. In the evening we got a call from the match referee that you guys won’t be allowed now,” batting pillar Rahul Dalal narrates the ordeal. The infighting between Meghalaya Cricket Association (MCA) president James Sangma and its Apex Council, which has been brewing for a few months, had taken another wicked turn. Locked in a legal battle, the state’s High Court had passed a verdict in favour of Sangma, deeming the team chosen by the Apex Council, which had played three rounds, invalid. The impasse originates from the suspension of secretary Rayonald Kharkamni over an alleged cover-up of sexual harassment complaints involving players. The latter’s faction appealed but the High Court upheld the suspension and declared the resolutions passed under him as illegal. The Sangma-faction hurriedly picked a new team, excluding all those the Apex Council had chosen, thus leaving the future of players in the dark. Meghalaya Cricket chief James Sangma is the elder brother of the state’s Chief Minister Conrad Sangma . BCCI is aware of the development, and its secretary Devajit Sakia told The Indian Express: “There is a litigation going on in the Meghalaya High Court between the president’s faction and secretary (Kharkamni). Recently the court ruled it in favour of the president’s faction and they picked the squad.” Sangma, meanwhile, did not reply to messages. The agony did not end with suspension and uncertainty. “Someone threatened our manager and he left the team. Our captain wrote an application to the match referee that our team is being threatened,” Dalal recounts. The match referee shifted to a different hotel, and by 7 pm, they were told that new players are getting registered. “Someone came and told us not to create ruckus. By 11 in the night, we were told that an entirely new team has been registered, and the BCCI has approved it. ‘So you guys won’t be playing anymore’,” he says. Nonetheless, they went to the ground the next day. The dressing room was locked. “They thought we would create a ruckus. The police were called. We were all dejected. Sangma Sir came and apologised on what had happened and explained his stand. Later the dressing room was opened and we came back,” he recollects. “A lot of hard work has been wasted. We had a chance to win the Plate group,” Dalal, one of the team’s stars, added. The team is second in the group with 12 points, with a win and defeat each. Remarkably, this was the first time an association was allowed to change its professional (from other units) players too. The Apex Council members had picked Rahul Dalal and Ajay Duhan, whereas the new squad has Jiwanjot Singh, Srinivas Sharath and Akshay Karnewar. Similarly, the U23 team too was summoned back from Sikkim and a new team was constituted. A member of the apex council said that they will challenge Meghalaya High Court order to the Supreme Court. (Inputs from Venkata Krishna B)