England series in jeopardy - BCCI asks ECB to bear tour expenses

England will play five Tests in the first half of their tour with the opening Test starting in Rajkot on Nov 9.

"I am at great pains to inform you that the BCCI is at present not in a position to execute the MoU between the Indian Cricket Board and the ECB," BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke wrote to the ECB,  according to a report in the Times of India.

Shirke spoke of the financial restrictions imposed on the board by the Supreme Court of India and said that the board is yet to receive the permission required from the committee, who are overseeing all the financial transactions, for the payments they need to make for various courtesies like accommodation and travel of the visiting team.

"A committee has been appointed that is also to oversee financial transactions of the BCCI. The BCCI has referred this issue to the Committee appointed by the Supreme Court (Lodha Committee) on 28.10.2016 itself and sought urgent permission for execution of the MoU. Thereafter, l have also sent the Hon'ble Committee a request again today. However, the Committee - while seeking further details a short while ago earlier today - has not yet granted us this permission," Shirke wrote in the letter.

The BCCI has asked the ECB to make the payments as of now and apologised for the inconvenience caused.

"Please make arrangements to remit such payments. The BCCI will inform you as and when further instructions are received by the BCCI from the Lodha Committee. I apologise on the behalf of BCCI for the inconvenience that is being caused," the letter read.

Meanwhile,  an unnamed source close to the Lodha Committee told the newspaper that the blame lies with BCCI president Anurag Thakur and the board for jeopardising the England series.

"Both Thakur and Shirke haven't followed the SC order and haven't filed the compliance report. Thakur was also supposed to furnish undertaking equivocally to the committee on how he would be implementing the reforms. That has also not been done. The England tour has been put in jeopardy by Thakur and Shirke,” the source said.

"Lodha Panel is still waiting for the affidavits from Thakur and Shirke and they would be blamed if something goes wrong with the series,” the source added.