Suresh Raina sidelined from Team India captaincy after Lalit Modi’s email to ICC: report

Mumbai: Ahead of Team India’s selection for tour of Zimbabwe, the Indian cricket team selectors had to drop their plans to name Suresh Raina as the leader of the team.

It is learnt that the selectors had to name Rahane as Team India skipper after Suresh Raina’s name popped up in Lalit Modi’s email to ICC, alleging the Chennai Super Kings trio of Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo accepting favours from a real estate tycoon.

According to a report in ‘The Indian Express’, following the allegations from Lalit Modi, the BCCI top brass was not in favour of Raina leading the ODI side in absence of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Hence, in a last-minute arrangement Mumbai-batsman Ajinkya Rahane was named skipper for India’s series against Zimbabwe.

Controversial former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi had alleged that two leading Indian cricketers and a West Indian player had been bribed by an Indian real estate tycoon, who is also a bookmaker.

London-based Modi had tweeted a letter he claimed to have written to International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Dave Richardson in June 2013, passing on "some information that I have just got." (Photo: PTI)

He told Richardson that he could pass the same to the anti-corruption and security unit of the ICC if he thought so fit.

Modi had stated that he had been informed by "reliable sources" that the tycoon had paid in cash and kind to the three players. He concluded by saying that "I hope this is not true but if true it could mean more are involved."

The International Cricket Council then confirmed to have received the letter and clarified that it acted as per standard procedure.

Read: ICC confirms receiving Lalit Modi’s top secret e-mail

“The ICC confirms that Mr Modi’s confidential e-mail, which was received in June 2013, and which has recently been published on Twitter, was provided to the ACSU at the time. The ACSU handled that information in accordance with its standard operating procedures, which included sharing it with the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit,” said the ICC statement.

On June 29, the day of picking Indian squad for Zimbabwe series, when asked about the ICC acknowledging a letter from Modi in June 2013, claiming that two cricketers from India and a West Indian were paid in cash and kind to the tune of Rs 20 crore each, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur had said "there is nothing in it".

"Lalit Modi had written a letter to ICC, so they informed BCCI about the letter. The three players are international players and fall under the international jurisdiction. There is no information on these players from ICC so far, so it is in a way a clean chit for them to play," added Thakur.

Read: BCCI gives 'clean chit' to three players

Raina then went on to say, "I have never been involved in any wrong doing and all allegations against me are false. Playing cricket is my passion for whichever team I have represented. I'm also figuring out my legal rights to take the right steps ahead in this matter."

Following Lodha committee’s verdict suspending Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, Suresh Raina had once again reiterated his stand on corruption in IPL saying, "There is no role of cricketers in such matters and so these allegations do not have any demoralising effect on them.”