Jagmohan Dalmiya asks Haroon Lorgat to act upon his offer to apologise

The BCCI is unhappy at Haroon Lorgat’s appointment as CSA Chief Executive[Getty Images]

Interim BCCI chief, Jagmohan Dalmiya has asked Cricket South Africa chief, Haroon Lorgat to apologise to those he offended in the BCCI, as he had offered earlier, more than 6 weeks after the offer was made, ESPNCricinfo reports.

“Lorgat is a nice gentleman, but it would be nice of him if he apologises,” Dalmiya said in Kolkata, regarding Lorgat’s offer. Lorgat offered an apology as soon as he was appointed chief executive at CSA, despite the BCCI opposing the move.

Although it appears that the BCCI are ready to cooperate with Lorgat, the deadlock over the BCCI shortening the series against South Africa from the original plan of 3 Tests, 7 ODIs and 2 T20s remains.

While Dalmiya insisted that the “tour is still on”, there has been no formal exchange between the BCCI and CSA. It is understood that even though BCCI president N Srivasan, treasurer Ravi Savant and board secretary Sanjay Patel were together for most of the day, the itinerary of South Africa’s tour didn’t even come up in their discussions.

“The sole purpose of the meeting was to proof read and sign the annual report before it goes for printing ahead of the AGM,” said an insider who was a part of the proceedings.

Meanwhile, the CSA, who said it would send out a statement on Wednesday to reassure fans and appreciate their support, said it will “try for [it] tomorrow [Thursday].” Officials at various franchises expressed concern at the possiblity of a shortened tour and maintained that they didn’t know anything about the BCCI-CSA situation.

It appears that there will be no progress until the CSA agrees to the BCCI’s demands, or until the BCCI AGM is held on September 29th.