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Celebrity Classico Fallout
Friday 13 October 2017

Celebrity Classico Fallout
Raj Kundra dropped as cricketers refuse to play ball with him
Businessman Raj Kundra, the former coowner of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee Rajasthan Royals, has been dropped from the celebrity football match between teams led by India skipper Virat Kohli and actor Abhishek Bachchan, scheduled in Andheri on Sunday.
Kundra told Mumbai Mirror that he was omitted from the second edition of Celebrity Clasico, a star-studded football event whose proceedings are donated to charity, at the behest of the BCCI, for whom he has been a persona non grata ever since his name cropped up in the 2013 spot-fixing saga in the IPL.
Rajasthan Royals, winners of the first edition of the IPL in 2008 under Australian spin legend Shane Warne, was suspended from the IPL for two years along with Chennai Superkings in 2015 over corruption and match-fixing allegations.
Kundra told Mumbai Mirror yesterday that he had "no option but to withdraw" from the celebrity football event as he got a call from one of the organisers, GS Entertainment, saying the BCCI had refused to allow Indian cricketers to participate in the event if it featured him. "I got a call from GS Entertainment on Friday evening saying the BCCI will not allow cricketers to participate if I was involved in the event. I asked GS Entertainment to give such a thing in writing but they refused," Kundra said.
GS Entertainment is organising the event with Cornerstone, which looks after business interests of Virat Kohli. Representatives of both firms, and the BCCI, were not available for comment, even as Kundra blasted them for "stooping to such levels". "What can I say if they choose to stoop to the level of keeping me away from a charity event," he said.
While the top BCCI officials are in New Zealand for an ICC meeting, sources from the Committee of Administrators (CoA) said they haven't discussed the Kundra matter. Bunty Sajdeh, owner of Cornerstone, did not reply to messages.

Businessman Raj Kundra, the former coowner of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee Rajasthan Royals, has been dropped from the celebrity football match between teams led by India skipper Virat Kohli and actor Abhishek Bachchan, scheduled in Andheri on Sunday.

Kundra told Mumbai Mirror that he was omitted from the second edition of Celebrity Clasico, a star-studded football event whose proceedings are donated to charity, at the behest of the BCCI, for whom he has been a persona non grata ever since his name cropped up in the 2013 spot-fixing saga in the IPL.

Rajasthan Royals, winners of the first edition of the IPL in 2008 under Australian spin legend Shane Warne, was suspended from the IPL for two years along with Chennai Superkings in 2015 over corruption and match-fixing allegations.

Kundra told Mumbai Mirror yesterday that he had "no option but to withdraw" from the celebrity football event as he got a call from one of the organisers, GS Entertainment, saying the BCCI had refused to allow Indian cricketers to participate in the event if it featured him. "I got a call from GS Entertainment on Friday evening saying the BCCI will not allow cricketers to participate if I was involved in the event. I asked GS Entertainment to give such a thing in writing but they refused," Kundra said.

GS Entertainment is organising the event with Cornerstone, which looks after business interests of Virat Kohli. Representatives of both firms, and the BCCI, were not available for comment, even as Kundra blasted them for "stooping to such levels". "What can I say if they choose to stoop to the level of keeping me away from a charity event," he said.

While the top BCCI officials are in New Zealand for an ICC meeting, sources from the Committee of Administrators (CoA) said they haven't discussed the Kundra matter. Bunty Sajdeh, owner of Cornerstone, did not reply to messages.

(Courtesy: Mumbai Mirror)

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