Ajay Shirke tried to call off India's limited-overs series against England: Report

The first ODI of the three-match series between India and England will be played in Pune on January 15.

New Delhi: Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Ajay Shirke, is facing the heat as it has been reported that after being sacked from the Indian board, he tried to cancel India's limited-overs series against England, starting from January 15.

On January 2, the apex court had removed Shirke and BCCI president Anurag Thakur from their respective posts, and four days after that, i.e. January 6, Clarke wrote to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri about a conversation he had with Shirke.

According to ESPNcricinfo, in an email sent to Johri, Clarke did not indicate when he received the calls from Shirke but referred to him as not being secretary any longer.

"I have received calls from Mr Shirke who I understand is no longer the Honorary Secretary of BCCI," Clarke wrote.

"Can you please confirm to me that the England team will continue to be looked after by the BCCI in the usual fashion, with proper security, player daily allowance payments, hotel bills covered and the like, with transport organised at all times."

"Obviously it is entirely a matter for BCCI where matches are played, but please advise soonest that the schedule will be adhered to, or any changes," the mail read.

"The BCCI has announced the teams for the warm-up matches, the ODIs and the T20 matches, the ticket sales for which have kicked off with the first game sold out, as of last week," Johri wrote.

The first ODI of the three-match series will be played in Pune on January 15. Shirke was the president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) for more than nine years and apart from losing the BCCI secretary`s post, he also unable to continue as MCA chief after the Supreme Court order of January 2 because his term had exceeded the Justice Lodha committee`s nine-year cap on tenure for BCCI and state office bearers.

(With PTI inputs)