For the first time in its 35 year history, the Annual General Meeting of the Asian Cricket Council in Lahore on November 17 didn’t have a representative of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary had been sent a letter by CEO Rahul Johri that the Committee of Administrators were not in favour of Amitabh attending the meeting due to the political situation between the two countries.

But Amitabh has revealed in a mail, in possession of Hindustan Times, that during the recently concluded ACC meeting in Dhaka, he was told by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani that the order wasn’t that of the CoA, but ‘from above’. In a mail marked to Rai, the secretary has asked about the identity of the ‘from above’ who took the decision on behalf of the CoA.

“Kindly peruse the email received by me on November 2 with regard to Annual General Meetng of the Asian Cricket Council at Lahore on November 17, 2018. As the letter clearly indicates CoA was not in favor of attending, given the ‘current political climate’. After this email I received a call from Ehsan Mani, the then president of ACC and chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board who had wanted to speak to you in this connection. Since he asked for your telephone number, I gave it to him.

“Apparently, he spoke to you soon after that. I thought that was the end of the matter. I happened to be at Dhaka for the ACC Board meeting day before yesterday. Conversationally, I enquired whether he had been able to speak to you before the Lahore AGM. He said he had indeed been able to and that you had passed orders of restraint on advice/instructions ‘from above’. Since I was the designated representative, could you please let me know from where you had received such advice/instructions/orders ‘from above’,” he wrote.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, a senior BCCI official said that this was a sad turn of events as the CoA had been asked to supervise the functioning of the board and how can there be someone ‘above’ the chairman of the CoA.

“The chaotic state of affairs in the BCCI administration is tragic. It is shocking that the BCCI’s representation at the ACC’s AGM was stopped by a Supreme Court appointed person on account of instructions ‘from above’ if this indeed is true. The entire board would like to know who is ‘above’ the Chairman of the Supreme Court appointed CoA in cricket administration at the moment since the Hon’ble Court and the Government only communicate by way of written orders or communications,” he said.