ACB agrees to reciprocal tour

Jaywant Lele, honorary secretary of the BCCI, today said that India's participation in the three-ODI series to be played indoors, in Melbourne, is almost final.

On receipt of the original invitation from the ACB, said Lele, the board had written back waiving guarantee money, and asking instead that Australia agrees to send its ODI team to India for a reciprocal three-game series some time in the next 12 months.

"We have just received a letter from the ACB, agreeing to the reciprocal tour," Lele told rediff.com. "We will now put it before the working committee for final ratification, before intimating the decision to the ACB."

Speaking on the phone from his residence in Baroda, the BCCI honorary secretary said he had no comment to make on the ongoing controversy triggered by the ACB statement that three Australian players, during the recent tour of India, were allegedly approached by bookies seeking information.

"Only Muthiah will speak about that," Lele said.

Muthiah for his part has not been taking any phone calls, on this or any other subject.

Asked the fate of the ICC Knockout Tournament, Lele said that it did not rate high in the BCCI's scheme of things. "The tournament is in September," Lele pointed out. "You are also living in India, you tell me, where in September can we find five big venues to host the tournament, when it is raining all the time? It is only in Bangalore that it is possible, in Madras it will be very hot, and in the other major centres, it will be the monsoon season," he argued.