Arvind Kejriwal's Attempt to Clean up Delhi District Cricket Association Mess 'Laudable': Bishan Singh Bedi

Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi, on Thursday, lauded Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's effort to help him clean-up the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) mess. (Arvind Kejriwal Government to Probe Corruption in Delhi Cricket, India-South Africa Test in Kotla Uncertain)

Kejriwal has given DDCA a November 17 deadline to establish its state of readiness to BCCI.

The state government had also directed the DDCA to pay Rs 24.45 crores in entertainment taxes as DDCA is already struggling with internal strife. (Delhi in Danger of Losing Fourth Test)

"As cricketers we are grateful that Mr. Arvind Kejriwal has shown remarkable acumen to find out and go to the bottom of it all," Bedi said. (India Include Gurkeerat Mann for Bangalore Test; South Africa Lose Vernon Philander After Freak Injury)

When quizzed about the fact whether the DDCA mess was on expected lines, the left-arm spinner said that it was only a matter of time that the glaring inefficiency was exposed.

"It was expected, this was bound to happen. This has been going on for so many years with so many errors and such glaring inefficacy that somebody had to take notice and stand up and I am glad to say this that the present chief minister of Delhi has genuinely felt the need to know what the hell is going on," Bedi added.

With BCCI already announcing Pune as the back-up venue, the DDCA has also sought the state government's help to stage the fourth and final Test. Bedi insists that the veteran cricketers of Delhi are batting for the game of cricket and not politicising the issue. (Read More India-South Africa Cricket Series Stories Here)

"Our aim is not to politicise this particular press conference. We were asked by Arvind ji that if the Test match does not happen here then who will be at a loss and we said that the people of Delhi will be at loss.

"Because Feroz Shah Kotla belongs to the people of the capital not to a particular individual. We were able to convey to him that with a heavy heart we feel that the situation today, the conditions prevailing in the parent body that is DDCA, is not terribly conducive to organise a Test match which is an international event.

"Over the years that DDCA has earned, the bad reputation that has not escaped the ICC. Delhi being the capital can you imagine what would have been the treatment meted to cricket in the other state associations," said the spinner who has picked up 266 Test wickets from 67 Tests.