Azhar, Jadeja, three others banned

The Rediff Team

The BCCI on Friday sent out a letter to all its member associations, indicating that Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia be banned from participating in any form of first class cricket, until the completion of a board enquiry.

The letter, signed by BCCI president A C Muthiah, says, "Since the CBI has named these five players, we have asked all state associations to suspend them."

Muthiah has indicated that this is not yet a life ban. The BCCI will now wait for former CBI joint director K Madhavan, who was recently appointed as the BCCI's own commissioner of enquiry, to examine the CBI report into match-fixing and submit his findings.

A final decision about the fate of the five players will be taken after Madhavan submits his findings, which is expected to be done within a fortnight from now.

Mail Cricket Editor