6 cricketers to get showcause for pub brawl

MUMBAI: Six Indian cricketers who were involved in a pub scrap with fans (at Tequila Joe's in St Lucia) last Tuesday, will be issued showcause notices on Tuesday by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The players being reprimanded are Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla and Zaheer Khan, sources revealed.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan will issue the showcause notice to these players at board president Shashank Manohar's behest, chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty told reporters after the board officials had a meeting at the BCCI headquarters this afternoon.

"The manager of the Indian team, Ranjib Biswal, today met the board president. The board president and secretary took information from him regarding the West Indies tour and also from the written report (submitted by Biswal earlier)," Shetty said.

TOI has also learnt that four of these players Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra and Ravindra Jadeja are also to be omitted from the side that will be chosen to tour Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup next month.

The BCCI officials' meeting lasted for over two hours. The officials also deliberated on the detailed report of coach Gary Kirsten. The board is now expected to prepare a new code of conduct for the players besides issuing the showcause notices.

The officials were however happy with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's handling of his team though they felt that he had erred in cricketing decisions.

"The board has no issue with the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the president doesn't doubt his integrity," said a source.

Biswal, on Saturday, had submitted his report to the board detailing the happenings of St Lucia and also the reasons behind India's poor performance in the tournament. The manager's first-hand information of the brawl that happened between the Indian players and some fans from the US over dinner has led to strong action by the board.

Sources added that there were a few more players than those being show-caused at the pub but they had no role to play in the fracas and hence will be left with a warning for now.