Calcutta: The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is planning to hold a meeting with Mohun Bagan and East Bengal officials following scuffles on both days of their two-day league match at the Eden which ended in a draw on Sunday.

CAB joint secretary Arun Mitra said such incidents tarnish the image of the game. According to him, this will send out a wrong message about local cricket. He added that the CAB would do everything to ensure such incidents are not repeated in future.

“This is obviously not desirable… These incidents will never benefit local cricket… On the contrary, this will send a wrong message,” Mitra said on Sunday evening.

Talking about CAB’s steps to identify the culprits responsible for the brawl in the players’ area while the match was on, Mitra informed that officials of both clubs would be summoned to a meeting.

“We will definitely do something to find out the reason behind this. We are planning to call the officials to a meeting… But we will discuss the whole thing with the president and other officials before the meeting,” Mitra added.

“There are instances of such incidents in the past. These things happen in a football ground, but it is sad that it is coming to cricket these days,” the CAB joint secretary added.

Enquired about the fate of the players who started the altercation, Mitra said: “We will go by the umpires’ report… We have to stick to the rules.”

However, another CAB official said: “Nothing will happen… Nobody will be able to prove anything against these officials… They will walk away happily. Take it from me, such incidents will occur again.”

After Saturday’s brawl between the top officials and supporters of the clubs, things were no better on Sunday after Mohun Bagan lost a couple of quick wickets. Officials of the clubs started a verbal duel that deteriorated into a fracas.

CAB assistant secretaries present at the Eden — Naresh Ojha and Debabrata Das —intervened and managed to keep things under control.

Meanwhile, Mohun Bagan assistant secretary Srinjoy Bose, when contacted, blamed the East Bengal officials for the whole episode.

“This is due to the nuisance of some half-officials of the East Bengal club. This was totally unnecessary. They are actually frustrated at losing every match against us… We just answered when they (East Bengal officials) turned abusive. This was totally unnecessary,” Bose said.

“But this is bad for the spirit of the game. Sledging is part of the game but I have never seen club officials getting involved in a scuffle,” Bose added.

A top East Bengal official however, passed the buck on to Bagan officials. “They started it… We were never abusive and this is all nonsense… When they saw our boys dominating the game, they started this drama,” the official said.

The match however, ended in a draw.

Brief scores

East Bengal 310/6 vs Mohun Bagan 258/7 (K.H. Mondal 68, W. Saha 44). Match drawn.