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Lele reprimanded for talking out of turn

The official line from the BCCI has been that board president A C Muthaiah spoke to secretary Jaywant Lele in the aftermath of the storm created by an interview he had given to Rediff staffer Faisal Shariff, that Lele denied making the statements attributed to him, and that the board president was happy with the explanation.

However, Bombay-based eveninger Mid-Day in its edition dated November 26 reports that Lele has been severely reprimanded by board president Muthaiah and International Cricket Council chief Jagmohan Dalmiya.

Citing sources within the BCCI, the eveninger says that Lele has been issued with a final warning, and told in no uncertain terms that he would be asked to resign if he issues any more controversial statements.

It does sort of beg the question -- if the board believes Lele, as it has said, why then the reprimand, the "final" warning? Another question the situation seems to beg is, what were the previous warnings for?

As per the report, the Indian players now on tour in Australia threatened to go on strike if Lele was not asked to apologise for his outburst. In order to defuse the tension, Muthaiah spoke personally to skipper Tendulkar, coach Kapil Dev and every member of the team.