Azhar's petition posted for Nov1

A civil court in Hyderabad on Wednesday posted to November 1 the hearing on the main petition filed by former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, challenging the life ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal.

Second additional judge J Shyamsundar Rao, earlier in the day, had issued orders partly allowing three interlocutary applications filed by the BCCI, its former board president A C Muthiah and BCCI inquiry commissioner K Madhavan, seeking striking down of certain allegations by Azharuddin in his main petition on the ground that they are 'vexatious, scandalous and irrelevant'.

The stylish Hyderabad batsman, in his main petition filed in a lower court, questioned the appointment and method of inquiry by Madhavan, terming the commissioner's probe, which formed the basis for initiating action against him, as 'malicious, illegal, arbitrary and biased' in favour of the BCCI, and sought the inquiry report to be treated as null and void.

Azhar, who was critical of the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI, also questioned the competence of its then president Muthiah, saying 'he (Muthiah) being an industrialist suffers from lack of experience or knowledge of the game'.

Earlier, Ramesh Ranganathan, Sanjay Joshi and Suryanaryana, appearing on behalf of the BCCI, Madhavan and Muthiah, all defendants, brushed aside charges levelled by Azhar, saying they are 'baseless and irrelevant', and sought their deletion.

Mail Cricket Editor