Summary Pressure on BCCI chief N. Srinivasan has started mounting after resignation of another top official.
NEW DELHI (AFP) - Another top Indian cricket official quit on Saturday, piling more pressure on the beleaguered president of the world s richest cricketing body to resign over an escalating betting scandal.
Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Rajeev Shukla told the Press Trust of India he was resigning from the post "in the best interest of Indian cricket" in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal that has ensnared the glitzy league.
"I have decided to quit as IPL chairman. It is a decision which I was pondering over for some time. I think it is time to step down," Shukla was quoted as saying by the news agency.
Shukla s announcement came on the eve of a crucial meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the southern city of Chennai that is expected to decide the fate of the cricket body s president N. Srinivasan.
Srinivasan has been pressed to quit after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested last week for allegedly taking part in the illegal betting row embroiling the IPL that has dismayed fans in the cricket-mad subcontinent.
Shukla s resignation from the powerful IPL post followed the resignations of BCCI joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke on Friday over the spot-fixing row.
"Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke resigned in the best interest of Indian cricket. I thought this is the right time," Shukla said.
The resignations of the BCCI officials have thrown the running of the cricket body into turmoil and were front-page news in India on Saturday with the daily The Times of India declaring in a headline: "Game all but over for Srinivasan."
