Angry Savant threatens to quit as BCCI VP

Internal wrangling and old rivalries came to the fore as Ravi Savant submitted his resignation as vice-president of the BCCI. He was protesting BCCI's decision to send Ratnakar Shetty, Savant's arch-rival, to an umpires' conclave in the West Indies last month. Savant is the chairman of the umpires' committee.

Savant contended that being the head of the umpires' committee, he should take decisions on matters relating to umpiring. However, he was not even made aware of the conference in the Caribbean and Shetty's subsequent visit.

Further, it is understood that Savant is not too happy that the BCCI office, deemed to be functioning under Shetty, will conduct an umpires' seminar in Bangalore this Wednesday. Australian umpire Simon Taufel is expected to hold clinics for Indian umpires there; Savant claimed that he was not involved even in that programme.