The BCCI has revoked Praveen Kumar’s suspension, which he received following a violation of the players’ code of conduct in a Corporate Trophy game last month. The suspension stood indefinitely and extended to all BCCI-run tournaments, but since it has now been retracted, Praveen will be able to play in the Central Zone Twenty20 tournament for Uttar Pradesh from March 17 to 22.
Following the match referee’s report that stated that Praveen had pleaded guilty for a Level 4 offence after abusing opposition batsman Ajitesh Argal while representing his employer Indian Oil, Praveen was suspended on February 10 and was issued a show-cause notice by the BCCI secretary, Sanjay Jagdale. In reply, Praveen accepted all the charges and apologised for his inappropriate conduct. The BCCI disciplinary committee – comprising president N Srinivasan, vice-president Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah – then decided to revoke his suspension following a stern warning.
“A couple of members of the disciplinary committee had a teleconference with Praveen and have decided to put the matter to rest after issuing him one last warning,” a board insider revealed.
It was learnt that Jaitley and Shah conducted a telephonic hearing with Praveen after he submitted his written reply, and the Indian Express reported that Srinivasan studied his reply during India’s second Test against Australia in Hyderabad last week.