Why did two Bihar teams show up for Ranji Trophy clash against Mumbai?

The commencement of the Ranji Trophy season witnessed a bizarre turn of events as two teams, both asserting to represent Bihar, appeared for the match against Mumbai at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna.

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The longstanding feud between factions of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) escalated onto the field, leading to heated exchanges and a minor scuffle among officials.

In the early morning standoff, the team chosen by BCA President Rakesh Tiwary took the field, while the one endorsed by Secretary Amit Kumar was left on the sidelines. Both Tiwary and Kumar claimed legitimacy for their respective teams, citing merit-based selections. 

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The dispute extended beyond the cricket ground, with Secretary Amit challenging Tiwary's suspension claims and asserting his status as the official secretary.

“We have picked the team on merit and that is the right team. You see the talent that is coming from Bihar. We have a cricketer (Sakib Hussain), who is picked in the IPL. We have a 12-year-old prodigy making his debut in the game. The other is being picked by the secretary who is suspended, so it can’t be the real team,” Tiwary told The Indian Express.

Whereas, Amit challenged Tiwary’s suspension claims and said: “First things first: I won the election, and I am an official secretary of the BCA. You can’t suspend a secretary. Secondly, how can a president select a team? Have you ever seen BCCI president Roger Binny announcing the squad? You will always see the signature of Secretary Jay Shah."

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BCA, in a subsequent press release, accused the suspended Secretary Amit of fabricating a fake team and orchestrating an attack on an official at the gate.

“There was a life-threatening attack on BCA’s OSD Manoj Kumar by those involved in the fake team. The miscreants have been identified and action will be taken against them,” the BCA release said.

BCA President Tiwary attributed the chaos to Aditya Verma, the original petitioner in the 2013 spot-fixing case, accusing him of attempting to tarnish Bihar's image.

“His only job is to ruin Bihar’s image. He is creating a nuisance because his son was not picked. He tries to put pressure on us, but we have never listened to him as we pick teams according to merit,” Tiwary said. 

Verma countered, stating it was a conflict between the president and secretary and denied having any ulterior motives.

“This is the fight between both of them. My son has done well in the trials. If my son was picked in one of the squads, is it my fault? He (Tiwary) is after me because I am questioning their corruption, they blame it on me,” he said.

Nonetheless, the off-the-pitch feud had little impact on Bihar on the pitch as they successfully limited Mumbai to 235/9, with veteran pacer Veer Pratap Singh emerging as the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/32.

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