CR Pattabhiraman, former president of the Tamil Nadu CricketAssociation, passed away in Chennai on Tuesday after a brief illness
Staff and Agencies20-Jun-2001* CR Pattabhiraman passes awayCR Pattabhiraman, former president of the Tamil Nadu CricketAssociation, passed away in Chennai on Tuesday after a brief illness.He was 94.A great patron of the sport, Pattabhiraman was president of the TamilNadu (then Madras) Cricket Association from 1948 to 1956. Earlier heserved as MCA vice president from 1936 to 1948. A good cricketer,Pattabhiraman represented the state in inter-association matches. Awell known politician, Pattabhiraman was a Union Minister in thefifties and sixties.The Board of Control for Cricket in India and the TNCA expressedsorrow and grief over the passing away of Pattabhiraman. In a jointstatement, BCCI president AC Muthiah and TNCA secretary Ashok Kumbhatdescribed Pattabhiraman as a keen lover of sports and said thecricketing fraternity had lost ‘a good friend, philosopher and a doyenwho has left an indelible mark on the sands of time.’ His loss wasirreplaceable, they said.* Gavaskar re appointed chairman of ICC Cricket CommitteeThe International Cricket Council has re appointed former Indiancaptain Sunil Gavaskar as Chairman of its Cricket Committee – Playingfor another term, ICC president Malcolm Gray said on Tuesday.The Executive Board of the ICC, at its three-day meeting whichconcluded in London on Tuesday, also decided to give the nextpresidency of the world body to Pakistan. Pakistan is likely to putforward the nomination of Ehsan Mani, Chairman of the ICC’s financecommittee since 1997, as its candidate.The Cricket Committee – Playing, headed by Gavaskar, considered thegrowing use of technology in the game and opined against utilisingtelevision replays to aid umpires in deciding no-balls and catches atleast for another year.* Ashish Nehra retained for tri-seriesThe National selectors, on a request from the Indian team managementin Zimbabwe, have retained Delhi medium pacer Ashish Nehra in theIndian cricket team for the triangular one-day series starting on June23.”Nehra was asked to stay back in Zimbabwe as Indian team managerChetan Chauhan had requested for him to stay back,” selectioncommittee chairman Chandu Borde told PTI over phone from Pune. “TheBCCI secretary Jaywant Lele contacted me last night from London andtold me about Chauhan’s request,” Borde said and added that Lele, inturn contacted BCCI president AC Muthiah who gave his consent.”Meanwhile, I contacted my colleagues and took their consent as well,”Borde said.Nehra will be the 15th member of the team which will play a triangularseries with hosts Zimbabwe and West Indies being the other two teams.The Indians, who squared the Test series 1-1, will play their firstmatch against Zimbabwe on June 24 at Harare.* Indian cricketers are now clean, says PrabhakarFormer Indian all rounder Manoj Prabhakar on Monday said he had been”successful” in his mission to cleanse the game. “The Indiancricketers are now clean,” claimed Prabhakar who was one of the firstto blow the lid on match-fixing, accusing former Indian captain KapilDev of offering him money to under-perform. Ironically, he became oneof those to be suspended for five years for alleged nexus with illegalbookmakers.The cricketer, however, said he had no ill-will against any one andthat he had great respect for Kapil Dev. “I have only tried to cleanseIndian cricket,” he said.Prabhakar, who was untraceable after non-bailable arrest warrants wereissued in connection with siphoning off crores of rupees of investorsthrough a chit-fund company, was in Lucknow to address a pressconference to claim his innocence in the scandal. He did not rule outjoining politics once again in the near future but refused toelaborate. Prabhakar had earlier contested unsuccessfully in 1998 froma South Delhi constituency.