New Delhi - New Zealand are preparing for the third Test
against India as scheduled despite a local media report that the remainder of
the tour has been cancelled by the Indian cricket board due to financial
problems.
The Indian Express newspaper quoted an unnamed official from
the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as saying the board's bank
accounts had been frozen after a recommendation by the Lodha Committee, a
court-appointed panel set up to look into its operations.
"We have no option other than to call off the India-New
Zealand series as our banks have decided to freeze BCCI accounts," the
paper quoted the official as saying.
"We don't want India to be humiliated in front of the
world.
"How can we function, how can we hold any games now?
Who will make the payment? Freezing a bank account is no joke. An international
team is here, and there is so much at stake."
India sealed the three-match test series 2-0 on Monday with
a 178-run victory in Kolkata. The third Test is scheduled to start in Indore on
Saturday, with a five-match one-day international series to follow.
A New Zealand Cricket spokesperson said they had heard
nothing from the BCCI.
"It's the first time we've heard of it," the
spokesperson told local media. "At the moment we are preparing to play the
third test at Indore as scheduled."
The BCCI has had a long-running battle with India's Supreme
Court, which has demanded a raft of administrative and governance reforms for
the world's richest cricket board.
The board, run by politicians and businessmen and criticised for a perceived lack of transparency, said after a general meeting on Saturday that it had adopted a number of "important recommendations" made by the Lodha Committee but rejected others out of hand.