New Delhi, May 26
BCCI secretary N Srinivasan kept mum on whether he would recuse from proceedings against Lalit Modi but lashed out at the suspended IPL Commissioner for his "habit of leaking information" to the media. In a 14-page letter to BCCI President Shashank Manohar, Modi yesterday launched a scathing attack on Srinivasan, saying the BCCI Secretary should not be part of the panel adjudicating charges of financial irregularities against the suspended IPL Commissioner.

Asked if he would stay away from the proceedings and oblige Modi, an annoyed Srinivasan said, "I'm afraid I cannot discuss these issues in the media. "Mr Modi has this habit of leaking information and letters to selected press but I cannot comment on these issues," Srinivasan told PTI over phone.

In his letter, Modi said Manohar too should stay away from the proceedings, since it would "tantamount to being a judge, witness and a potential co-notice" in the case. Manohar, however, was not available for comments. Charged with allegations of bid-rigging and proxy investment, Modi first sent a staggering 15,000-page reply to the show cause notice served to him and he followed it up with another letter yesterday in which he targeted Manohar but came down more heavily on Srinivasan with a series of allegations including that of "match-fixing". Modi, in fact, requested Manohar to serve a show cause notice to Srinivasan and also suspend him pending an investigation. — PTI

Chandigarh, May 26
The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) is set for bigger and better things. With one world class stadium already under its belt in Mohali, the association is in the final stages of procuring land on the outskirts of the union territory to build a second stadium nearly four times bigger than the present one. Mohali’s loss is going to be Mullanpur’s gain. The village, which has been chosen for situating the second stadium, is on the outskirts of the city near the PGI medical institute. Mullanpur is already attracting big time realtors and an international cricket stadium will be a further boom for property in the region.

According to sources the PCA has finalised a deal for 45 acres of land at Mullanpur at the rate of Rs 1.25 crore per acre with the total land deal costing it Rs 54 crore. According to Association honorary secretary M P Pandove the land is as good as bought as the PCA has relied on a third party to purchase the land from farmers. The PCA will get the land registered in its own name shortly.

The PCA hopes to build appropriate training facilities as well as an international level clubhouse at the new stadium. Pandove said the present stadium, which was spread over an area of 13.5 acres, had limited seating capacity, particularly for general ticket holders. There are only 10,000 such seats. The new stadium will cater to the need for more seating. Besides this it will house a top-level cricket academy with appropriate training gear so that budding youngsters have the advantage of the best possible training facilities. It will also have an enlarged clubhouse with an international size pool, hostel, tennis courts, and squash courts, conference halls besides adequate parking facilities.

Pandove further added that the association was likely to engage award-winning architects from around the world to plan the proposed stadium. Budget is not likely to be a constraint for the cash-rich body. Pandove, however, said since it would involve a huge investment the association was likely to borrow money from financial institutions.

Meanwhile, sources said the new stadium would become the host for most international matches five years from hence when it was likely to be completed. The PCA stadium at Mohali, might get few international matches and was likely to become the headquarters for regional cricket as well as serve as a training ground for Punjab cricketers. A fast bowling academy is also likely to be established in the Mohali stadium. 

New Delhi, May 26
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and five other Indian cricketers have tendered an unconditional apology to the BCCI for a pub brawl in St Lucia, blaming fans for the incident and pleading innocence. In their letters, both Jadeja and Rohit Sharma said the Indian cricketers were abused by disappointed fans in the pub but vowed there would not be a repeat of such incidents again.

"I beg to inform you that I had gone to the restaurant (pub) for dinner along with other Indian team members. Some other guests, which I presume were of Indian origin from USA, had also come to the restaurant and on seeing us they started abusing us," Jadeja wrote in the letter he sent to BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan on May 21.

"This may be because they were unhappy with our poor performance. We requested them not to abuse us but they did not stop in spite of our repeated request. No way I was involved in any ugly brawl and I went to the pub only to have dinner with my teammates," said Jadeja. Apart from Jadeja and Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Piyush Chawla were also served a show cause notice for the incident that took place soon after India's exit from the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.

Jadeja pleaded innocence but still tendered an unconditional apology. "If the Board still thinks that I have brought disrespect to the game of cricket or our board and our country, I once again sincerely tender my unconditional apology and assure you that I will take care that in future no way my name will be involved in any such incident," Jadeja wrote. — PTI 

BRIEFLY

Two medals assured for India in Asian Women's boxing C'ship
New Delhi: Pavitra (57kg) and Sonam Yadav (75kg) assured themselves of medals with contrasting wins in the quarterfinals on a mixed day for the Indians in the Asian Women's Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. Pavitra defeated Filipino Nesthy Petesio 5-4, while Sonam got the better of Mongolia's Unbran Zrdensyol 5-0 to enter the semifinals of the event. — PTI

Mallya banking on consistency
Istanbul: Force India's new-found consistency and the updates on the pipeline will yield a double point finish in Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix, hopes chairman Vijay Mallya. Force India goes into the seventh round of the championship in a buoyant mood following its double points finish at last week's Monaco Grand Prix. Both the drivers, Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi, brought home their VJM03 cars inside the top 10. — PTI

Curtains for Mah U after JCT tie
Mumbai: Curtains would be drawn on one of the premier football clubs in the country as Mumbai's Mahindra United take on JCT in the I-League encounter here on Thursday after which the team is winding up their show. The decision of the club's management last month to shut shop and focus on grassroot level football came as a big shock to the fans and tomorrow they have the last chance to see their favourite team in action. — PTI

Afridi not good for Tests: Akram
New Delhi: Shahid Afridi does not merit a place in the Test squad but lack of option forced Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to appoint him skipper in all three formats of the game, believes former captain Wasim Akram. Akram did not question Afridi's credentials in the shorter formats but felt the all-rounder was just not fit for Test cricket. "Although he is fit to lead in one-dayers and Twenty20s, I have my doubts in Tests," Akram said. — PTI

Don’t mind Ronaldo partying with Paris: Mourinho
London: Jose Mourinho, who is set to become the coach of Real Madrid, says he has no problem with the club's star player.

 Cristiano Ronaldo's partying habits, as long as he plays well. The coach added he had no queries over the Portuguese spending time with hotel heiress and party animal.

Paris Hilton. "Cristiano is a phenomenon. 

Nobody can criticise him if he is with Paris Hilton on holiday, or he goes to Los Angeles, or he buys a Ferrari," the Sun quoted Mourinho, as saying. — ANI