Los Angeles Rams linebacker Clay Matthews suffered a broken jaw against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night and will be out for a month, coach Sean McVay said Friday.

Matthews, who had five tackles and a sack in the Rams' 30-29 loss, will have surgery.

McVay said he thinks the injury occurred on a physical play with Seahawks running back Chris Carson.

Matthews, 33, has six sacks this season -- with at least one in each game -- and has forced two fumbles.

ESPN's Lindsey Thiry contributed to this report.

Neil Gourley, Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman make it a first for Britain as they progress through tough semi-final stage in Doha

Three British athletes will feature in the men’s 1500m final at the IAAF World Championships for the first time in memory after Neil Gourley, Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman all made it through an incredibly difficult semi-final stage to reach Sunday’s showpiece contest.

After both semi-finals had been staged, a mere 0.35 of a second separated the times clocked by the 12 finalists, with Filip Ingebrigtsen and Ben Blankenship among those who did not progress.

It was Gourley’s turn first in a race which opened proceedings in front of the large Khalifa Stadium crowd and also featured Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot.

The London 2017 silver medallist led from start to finish but he had to work for his win in 3:36.53 and there was a sizeable crowd of runners right on his tail as they came careering down the finishing straight together.

Gourley, who had run confidently and positioned himself well, waited for his gap and charged through to take third place in the blanket finish in 3:36.69, the same time credited to Algerian runner-up Taoufik Makhloufi.

American Craig Engels (3:36.69) and Sweden’s Kalle Berglund (3:36.72) took the other two automatic qualifying slots as Blankenship (3:36.98) and Filip Ingebrigtsen (3:37.00) were left to sweat it out to see if they would be fast enough to qualify.

The second semi-final was similarly thrilling affair, however, and also came right down to the wire.

Kenya’s Ronald Kwemoi attempted to emulate the front-running exploits of fellow countryman Cheruiyot but he was overhauled in the closing stages by Marcin Lewandowski, the Pole crossing the line in 3:36.50.

Kwemoi clocked 3:36.53, the same time recorded by European champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen in third.

Kerr timed his run to the line perfectly and finished fourth in 3:36.58, with Youssouf Hiss Bachir of Djibouti taking the last automatic spot.

Who would get the two remaining ‘fastest loser’ places? Olympic champion Matt Centrowitz grabbed one with his season’s best 3:36.77, while Commonwealth and European bronze medallist Wightman got the other after coming seventh in 3:36.85.

“I was trying to stay inside as much as possible, conserve energy and stay patient because inevitably there are gaps in the last 200m you just need to make sure you can take advantage of them – you don’t get a second look and I was able to steal one in the last straight,” said Gourley.

“Recovery is a battle and I feel like I beat some people just by recovering better for today so I need to do that again come Sunday.”

He added: “A medal is the goal, its going to be tough but I’d be selling myself short if I wasn’t trying to do that.”

Team tactics or every man for himself in the 1500m final? Josh Kerr gives a diplomatic answer after 3 Brits make it through. #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/GHZdFGz87z

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) October 4, 2019

Kerr’s confidence was evident when he said: “I felt really strong. I had to trust my kick really well and I was able to do that. I got pushed in the back at points but my coach and I spoke about keeping a cool head and wherever I am at I know I can kick hard.

“I feel like I had another gear there if I needed to be so when I looked around and no one was gaining I had a little smile to myself. It was about making smart decisions, trusting myself and trusting my strength.”

Wightman admitted to a sense of relief.

“I made a mistake that I should have been punished for but I just got away with it,” he said. “I need to just chill out in rounds, I was just a bit too fixated in making that final and thought I could get into it a bit more easily than it turned out being.

“It doesn’t matter what size ‘q’, big or little, it’s just the point of getting that there and everyone’s on a level playing field now for the final.”

British relay teams were in great form too. The men’s 4x100m quartet led the qualifiers with a fast 37.56 with South Africa clocking an African record of 37.65 and Japan 37.78 and China 37.79 but the United States was only ninth quickest with 38.03 and the US survived an appeal by Italy and Canada that they had failed to exchange the baton at the last changeover.

The GB team of Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake ran a world lead for 2019 as they passed the baton in slick style.

Even without the world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, Britain posted a fast 42.25 in the 4x100m heats, a metre down on Jamaica’s 42.11. The team of Asha Philip, Imani Lansiquot, Ashleigh Nelson and Daryll Neita pushed a Jamaican team that might well be their team for the final with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce running the second leg.

The earlier semi was won in a slower 42.46 though the USA team may be stronger in the final.

Neita said: “The only way is up. We have come in here with such good preparation that we are not going to limit ourselves, we are going to go out there and do the best we can. We are not going to give away all of our secrets, just know that we practice a lot and we are very confident.”

Qatari responds to the huge home support in fine style and leaps his way to another IAAF World Championships gold medal

They had come to see him jump and they had come to see him win.

On a memorable night at the Khalifa Stadium, home hero Mutaz Essa Barshim gave the people exactly what they wanted when he leapt his way to a second consecutive world high jump gold.

The Qatari has been beset by injury throughout the year and has not been able to hit the great heights to which he has been accustomed but, roared on by the crowd which had been swelled by his presence in the field, the defending champion retained his crown.

The 28-year-old had been on the brink of crashing out of the competition completely after two failures when attempting to clear 2.33m but he used his last chance to sail over, with the crowd celebrating as if he had scored the winning goal in the World Cup Final (another showpiece event which will also take place in Doha, of course).

As if energised by his great escape, Barshim suddenly found his form and cleared 2.35m at the first time of asking. That feat was matched by Russian Authorised Neutral Athletes Mikhail Akimenko and Ilya Ivanyuk, while Belarussian Maksim Nedasekau failed at the mark that had been his world lead and opted instead to join the others in aiming for the greater height of 2.37m.

It was a task which proved to be beyond him and all the other competitors – except for Barshim. The man who has cleared 2.40m or better every year from 2013-2018 didn’t have to go that far but he smoothly leapt into gold medal position with one attempt and sent the watching thousands into raptures.

Akimenko and Ivanyuk did their best to prolong the contest, but there was a sense of inevitability about them finishing in silver and bronze positions respectively.

“It is home and I feel my jumping is really good,” said Barshim. “Today was very important for me because I was pushing myself the whole season to jump well at home.

“Despite the fact that the people are sometimes very critical, I am happy to compete here. I always want to win, it does not matter where it is. Every athlete wants to compete at home so it is special.

“It is really great to jump in front of the home crowd, especially when you have your family and wife in the stands. It was very important for me. I just want to do this for them. It definitely makes these championships special to me and it gives you extra motivation.”

American changes history for a second time this year after clocking 52.16 in taking 400m hurdles gold ahead of young star Sydney McLaughlin

Breaking the world record once is impressive enough. Doing it for a second time in the same season, and becoming a world champion in the process, is downright extraordinary.

That is precisely what American Dalilah Muhammad achieved, however, when she lowered the 400m hurdles mark of 52.20 she set in winning the US Championships back in July, clocking 52.16 on the Khalifa Stadium track and rewriting the history books.

As in Des Moines, her closest challenger was young compatriot Sydney McLaughlin, who once again underlined her great potential with a personal best of 52.23 which ultimately helped drive her opponent to a stunning performance. Others were pulled towards fast times, as well – Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton also running a personal best in clocking 53.74 for bronze, while Lea Sprunger’s 54.06 in fourth was a Swiss record.

Muhammad set off full of intent, bursting out of the blocks, but world youth record holder McLaughlin was in hot pursuit and applying plenty of pressure down the back straight. The 29-year-old created what proved to be a crucial gap on the final bend, however, entering the finishing straight with clear daylight between her and her 20-year-old pursuer.

“I don’t think you ever get used to it but I know that if I want to stay competitive in this event then I have no choice (but to keep doing it),” says @DalilahMuhammad of her world record-breaking exploits #WorldAthleticsChampionships pic.twitter.com/qIqg5H1ZJ7

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) October 4, 2019

McLaughlin did start to close but still Muhammad would not buckle and burst through the line before the significance of the clock reading began to truly sink in.

“This means so much,” said Muhammad. “It’s difficult to describe. I just wanted the world title so much but to break the world record again is fantastic. I just decided to go for it from the start and I felt Sydney coming at me around hurdle nine, then I just gave it everything I’d got.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet but it feels good. I did not expect to break the world record today, I was definitely just trying to win that race. Two world records, that sounds quite crazy, now that it is done.

“My coach told me that it is possible and I just had to go there and believe in it. I believe that we can drop under 52 seconds. The race was so tight, that was anybody’s race tonight. It was so close, we will continue to push each other. It is definitely possible.”

McLaughlin, who only turned professional at the end of last year, clearly has plenty of gold medal-winning moments in her own future.

“I am happy about today’ s performance because my goal was to come out and run around 53,” she said. “Just feeling this pace in the first 200, it felt already like the final. There are still things to work on but the bigger part of the race was just great.

“The little things I have to work on are the hurdle technique and the start but it is getting there. One thing I like about hurdles is that they distract me from the fact that I am running 400m. Just trying to focus on something different. It is fun to test the strength and to do the things I want.”

Kenyan takes world title again as he out-sprints Ethiopian Lamecha Girma in thrilling finish in Doha

In a sensational 3000m steeplechase, Conseslus Kipruto retained his title but only with an extraordinary sprint finish as he out-dipped Lamecha Girma to win by one hundredth of a second.

That gave the Olympic champion his fourth successive medal – after silvers in 2013 and 2015 – at the end of an injury-ravaged season where he has failed to win a single steeplechase.

The Ethiopians, whose previous best in the event was fifth, seemed to have a plan of making a fast pace from the start and Getnet Wale powered through the opening kilometre in 2:39.55 with a dozen of the 15 starters in contention, albeit well spread out.

The pace marginally slowed in the second kilometre to 65-second laps and Girma was ahead at 2000m in 5:22.95 with the lead pack now down to nine. One lap later, it was down to seven and then four at the bell (7:02.65) as Morocco’s world leader Soufiane El Bakkali pushed on forcefully. Kipruto and Girma covered him and then, with 200m to go, Girma shot by and powered into the water jump with Kipruto moving into second.

The long-striding 18-year-old, in just his first serious year of training, stretched out beautifully but Kipruto followed. Despite sprinting hard himself, he made no impression until he had crossed the final barrier.

Using all his experience, Kipruto accelerated hard but the Ethiopian was going so fast himself that he seemed impossible to catch. Thanks to a well-timed lunge and raising his arm, however, the gold went to the Kenyan by the narrowest of margins.

His time was a world-leading 8:01.35, a 12-second improvement on his previous season’s best that came courtesy of a 58.6 final circuit, four barriers and water jump included!

Watch for Girma in the future though. He had never raced outside Ethopia until the World Championships trials in Hengelo this year and his only international races were third places in both Paris and Brussels. He won Ethiopia’s first medal.

El Bakkali took bronze for Morocco in 8:03.76 with Wale fourth just ahead of France’s Djilali Bedrani who finished a surprising fifth in a PB 8:05.23.

The top eight broke 8:10 and the top 12 were inside 8:13.

Britain’s Zak Seddon was unable to replicate the form of the heats and, after a promising 2:42 opening kilometre, he briefly looked like he was closing on the group ahead. He found the last few laps hard, though, and finished 15th in 8:40.23 as Chalo Beyo dropped out.

“I’m just not quite at that level where I can push for top ten in the world at the moment,” said Seddon. “That’s a big achievement in itself but I wasn’t going to get better.

“If you are doing everything in steps then I’ve moved from European to World final and that’s a good jump for a year, I just now have to wait another year to try and push on from that. I just wish I could have done better. I can’t be disappointed with my champs but I am disappointed with that race.”

Bahamas athlete delivers victory in super-fast time at IAAF World Champs in Doha just weeks after natural disaster in his country

Little over a month since his country was left devastated by Hurricane Dorian, Steven Gardiner brought some joy to the people of the Bahamas by winning the world 400m title in Doha.

The strongest hurricane to hit the Bahamas caused billions of dollars worth of damage and led to the deaths of more than 60 people, with hundreds others still missing.

On Thursday at the IAAF World Championships in Doha the women’s 400m hope Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas won silver but on Friday night the men’s title went to Gardiner.

Gardiner’s 43.48 world 400m title in Doha saw him beat Colombian Anthony Jose Zambrano, who ran a South American record of 44.15, as Fred Kerley of the United States placed third in 44.17.

Demish Gaye of Jamaica was fourth in a PB of 44.46 and Kirani James, the 2012 Olympic champion from Grenada, fifth in 44.54

Only world record-holder Wayde van Niekerk, Michael Johnson, Butch Reynolds, Jeremy Wariner and Mike Norman have run faster than Gardiner in a tremendous race, although the atmosphere in the stadium was more stilted after the crescendo of sound a little earlier during Mutaz Essa Barshim’s high jump heroics.

Gardiner, 24, finished runner-up to Van Niekerk in London two years ago but improved his PB of 43.87 in the race of his life in Doha. Zambrano also took more than half a second off his 44.68 PB.

“Hurricane Dorian was very devastating for my family and my island,” said Gardiner. “I just wanted to go out tonight and do my best. I was able to bring home a medal for my country.”

DOVER, Del. — With Ally Financial announcing it will extend its sponsorship of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team through 2023, there is still one lingering question.

Will Jimmie Johnson remain as the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, or will he retire at the end of his contract with Hendrick Motorsports, which expires in 2020?

Johnson didn’t have an answer for that question Friday prior to practice at Dover Int’l Speedway.

“I haven’t made any decisions at this point,” Johnson said. “I’m very, very excited that Ally has signed this extension with Hendrick. I think it speaks to the strength of our sport and strength of the relationship with Hendrick Motorsports. I know everybody would like me to be in the car to 2023 and even past that, but I just haven’t made that decision yet. So, I certainly didn’t want to get in the way of this great news coming out, either. And, as this came down the pipeline, I knew I would be in a position to answer a lot of questions that would come with it.

“But I just felt like it was such great news, I supported Hendrick in getting this news out right away, and Ally as well, it’s just great for our sport and industry,” he added. “I don’t have anything to say at this time and I’m going to take every day that I can get from Mr. Hendrick before I have to make my decision.”

Johnson is in the midst of a career-long winless streak. He hasn’t won a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race since June 4, 2017 at Dover (Del.) Int’l Speedway and failed to make the NASCAR playoffs for the first time in his career this year.

Despite his struggles, Johnson says he doesn’t yet have a timeline for when he’d like to hang up his helmet and hand over the wheel of the No. 48 to someone else.

“I don’t have a timeline,” Johnson said. “I personally know that I would like every day that I can before I need to make that decision. There’s a lot of things to look at with the Gen-7 car coming and the way our team is performing and what we are building. And I might want to go longer than 2023. I just don’t know. I have not put much time and effort into it. There have been many other things to deal with and look at.

“These things, in the past, a contract renewal would usually start in the spring of the year the contract would end,” the seven-time series champion noted. “So, based on past experience, I would say that probably spring next year is when I would really get pressure to make a decision if I was going to return in 2021. I hate I don’t have any good news for you. I know you’d love to have that firm timeline, but I just don’t right now.”

Antonio Conte admits that facing Juventus, the team he captained and coached, will be "emotional." How could it be any other way after 17 years in black and white? But when the Derby d'Italia kicks off on Sunday (stream live on ESPN+, 2:45 p.m. ET), the Inter coach claims the moment will pass and his old club will become "just another opponent."

In the away dugout, Maurizio Sarri cannot boast the same connection. He'd have to have been living under a rock, though, to fail to appreciate the significance of this game to both sets of supporters. The Tuscan is spot on when he says "Juve-Inter isn't a game like the others" but the anticipation for this one is even higher than usual.

Inter have made a perfect start to the season in Serie A, taking maximum points from the opening six games for the first time since 1966 -- a season that ended in heartbreak. Juventus, still undefeated, are only two points back and chasing. Both are playing well, and while the game comes in early in the season, Sarri, and particularly Conte, have had time to impose themselves on their teams.

It is the closest Juventus and Inter have been to each other heading into a Derby d'Italia since December 2017, the last time the Nerazzurri were alone at the top of the table. Unlike then, there is a confidence and conviction that they can go the distance this season. Conte's reputation as a serial winner, the best Inter summer transfer window in years and the radical nature of Juventus' makeover under Sarri, have led to a feeling that the playing field is more level than in recent years. Unlike Rudi Garcia's Roma and Sarri's Napoli, who emerged as surprise contenders, Conte winning the league would match expectation and the standards he sets himself.

- Horncastle: Serie A's surprise stars so far
- Robson: Inter's hopes might rest on the shoulders of Lukaku

Inter's start has only reinforced the conviction that Sarri will be given little margin for error in his first season at Juventus. In England, Conte figured things out quicker than Pep Guardiola at City, Jose Mourinho at Manchester United and Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. By the time they got settled in their new jobs, his Chelsea side were already out of sight.

As such, the onus is on Sarri, still yet to win a major league title, to show he can not only keep Juventus at the top but validate the club's decision to repudiate its own mantra -- a credo Conte and Massimiliano Allegri lived by.

Winning is no longer the only thing that counts to Juventus. How you win does, too. A draw this weekend will be easier for Conte to spin as progress given the ground his new club have had to make up on Juve since they last won something in 2011. It would also keep Inter top. Conte will go for the jugular though, which brings us to the main peculiarity and source of greatest curiosity around this game.

Whose side are you on?

At the launch of Inter's new third kit last month, supporters sang a familiar song. "Chi non salta Juventino e! e!" Who doesn't jump is a Juventus fan. All eyes were on Conte. His feet did not leave the ground.

Memories of his reaction when the Juventus side he captained beat Inter to the title on the final day of the 2001-02 season die hard. "There's little to say, other than we're loving it," he said. "This is for the bitterness we felt in Perugia [in 2000] and there's someone who was in Perugia that day who is watching." That someone was an Inter legend in the making, Marco Materazzi, who admonished Conte for a lack of class and suggested Juventus use their winnings to buy him a toupee.

Conte has set old allegiances aside. He is a professional, and caused some consternation as coach of Juventus when he said he'd have no problem whatsoever working for Inter one day in the future. He likes to say he becomes the No. 1 fan of whoever he works for (Lecce born, we shouldn't forget he coached Bari) and the coolness between Juve and Conte since he left helps a little too.

The 50-year-old has always loomed as the biggest threat to his old club. His decision to suddenly resign in 2014 when preseason had already started, limiting Juventus' time and choice to line up a successor threatened to compromise everything. That it all worked out well in the end under Allegri did not change that, and the frostiness has still not completely thawed.

Now he is charged with taking a sledgehammer to the house that he built with Beppe Marotta, the former Juventus chief executive who was ousted in a reshuffle a year ago and is now heading up Inter's recruitment. Pavel Nedved, Juve vice president, raised eyebrows last December when he said of Marotta: "He's a pro, but maybe he never was a Juventus fan."

If you can't beat 'em ...

The sight of Sarri chewing on a cigarette filter as he stalks the Juventus technical area is every bit as odd as seeing Conte on the Inter bench. When linked with them in 2017, Sarri said: "I've called my lawyer to see if there are grounds for legal action."

After encouraging his Napoli players to "storm the palace" and overthrow the establishment, Sarri now works for them. It's as if Che Guevara married into a royal family.

Pupil against master

Pushed out by Juventus last year, Marotta is now in competition with his prodigy Fabio Paratici, who, credited with signing Cristiano Ronaldo, was promoted in his place.

The pair worked together for 15 years and the split has not been without tension. Paratici's revelation that he wanted to "cause complete chaos" by giving the impression Juventus intended to sign Mauro Icardi -- "obviously not my real objective" -- was uncalled for and "out of place" in Marotta's opinion.

Juventus were perceived to be making life hard for Inter over the summer: first by trading Leonardo Spinazzola for Luca Pellegrini, which meant Roma were no longer under financial fair play pressure to sell Edin Dzeko to the Nerazzurri, then by the sudden and inexplicable attempt to hijack their €80m move for Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku.

When the window closed, it felt like the master (Marotta) had taught his pupil (Paratici) a lesson. Juventus may have bought well, but that's only half the job. Marotta not only signed Lukaku, Stefano Sensi, Nicolo Barella and Diego Godin, he managed to offload Icardi, Radja Nainggolan and Ivan Perisic. Selling did not go as well for Paratici, who tried and failed to move on Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic among others, leaving Juventus and Sarri with a big squad to keep happy and a balance sheet redder than they perhaps would have liked.

And the academy award for best director goes to ...

Juventus and Inter use deep-lying playmakers in the best tradition of the regista role. Miralem Pjanic has made headlines for scoring from outside the area in back-to-back games, but his evolution in front of the defence continues apace under Sarri.

Juventus' new coach wants him to have 150 touches a game and his passing is more incisive than under Allegri, who wanted the Bosnian to get the ball out wide. Now Pjanic has more angles to play with and more teammates taking up narrow positions between the lines up ahead.

Conte, meanwhile, has benefited from the work predecessor Luciano Spalletti did in the past 18 months in converting Marcelo Brozovic to a similar role. The 26-year-old has matured and is more careful on the ball, but the safety net of three centre-backs behind the Croatian has also encouraged him to be more daring. Sensi's arrival means Brozovic has someone as good in possession to take some of the attention away from him, not to mention a reference point to play to between the lines.

Rambo and Sensi-bility

Aaron Ramsey missed a lot of preseason recovering from the injury he suffered in Arsenal's Europa League quarterfinal against Napoli in April. Sarri's tendency to pick an XI and stick with it didn't bode well for a new signing who wasn't fit for the start of the campaign. But Ramsey has not only scored a debut goal and carved out a place for himself in the team, he has persuaded Sarri to experiment with him as a No. 10 in a 4-3-1-2, the implementation of which has coincided with Juventus playing better football, scoring more goals and conceding fewer.

His impact has not been as great as Sensi's for Inter, though, with the 24-year-old emerging as a star of the best midfield the club has had since the Treble in 2010.

Rom vs. Ron

Weirdly, they could have been playing together against Inter on Sunday. Lukaku scored on his debut and has three goals in six games, including a fine header in the Milan derby, without playing particularly well. A limited preseason, a bad back and now an issue with his quad have held back the overall performances of the Belgian striker. Inter need him to recover in time given Alexis Sanchez is suspended.

Ronaldo, on the other hand, has found the net nine times in nine games for club and country this season. He has scored in every Juventus home game and set up gilt-edged chances for Ramsey and Sami Khedira that weren't taken against SPAL. It helps that Gonzalo Higuain and Dybala, the assist man for his past two goals, are creating chances for him.

Still Ronaldo has cut a frustrated figure at times, as was the case in Florence and before his goal last weekend. When Juventus' passing game hasn't functioned, he's looked isolated. When it has worked, he hasn't always been a participant; the team can get caught in the moment of some of Sarri's mesmeric passing patterns going wherever the game takes them, which isn't always to him.

Former India captains Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly along with former India batsman Brijesh Patel are among the biggest names put forward to contest the BCCI elections scheduled for October 23.

They were part of an electoral draft roll made public on Friday which also included Jay Shah (Gujarat Cricket Association secretary and son of India's Home Minister Amit Shah), Arun Dhumal (president Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association and brother of former BCCI president Anurag Thakur), Rajeev Shukla (former IPL chairman), Rajat Sharma (Delhi Districts Cricket Association president) and Jaydev Shah (Saurashtra Cricket Association president and son former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah)

Friday was the last date for all the state associations to wrap up their polls and send in the names of a representative that would attend the BCCI's annual general meeting, which happens alongside the elections.

This list of 38 representatives would now be vetted by the BCCI's electoral officer N Gopalswami before releasing a final electoral list on October 10. The state associations would then have to send in names from that final electoral list of representatives to contest various positions at the BCCI elections. On October 16, a week before the elections, the BCCI would release the final list of candidates along with the positions they would be contesting.

The board would be looking to fill five office bearer posts (president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer), one seat on the Apex Council and two positions on the IPL Governing Council.

Although Ganguly, who was re-elected president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, has been to a BCCI AGM previously, he has never contested the elections. It remains to be seen whether he would put his hat in the ring considering the BCCI's new constitution, framed as per the RM Lodha Committee reforms, dictates that he would have to accept a cooling off period of three years after he completes six years as office bearer. That is only 10 months away.

Azharuddin, meanwhile, would be attending the board's AGM for the first time. But the new president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association would be surrounded by people who were close to him during his playing career, including Patel and Shukla, a veteran administrator and former IPL chairman.

Both Shukla and Patel did not take part in elections at their respective state associations - Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka - but have still been pitched as representatives. Questions would be raised about their eligibility considering both Shukla and Patel have already served several years as office bearers at their state associations.

Eligibility is bound to become a key factor in the coming weeks keeping in mind the rules drawn by the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which was appointed as the supervisory authority of the BCCI by the Supreme Court on January 30, 2017.

The CoA has made it clear that in order to participate in the BCCI AGM and nominate a representative for the elections, state associations' constitutions would need to be compliant with that of the board's. If not, they would not be allowed to cast their vote nor would their respresentative be allowed to contest for a position in the elections. Gopalswami has reiterated that point in the communication he has sent in the last two weeks.

Not everyone agrees with this though. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), the bastion of former BCCI president N Srinivasan, has challenged the CoA directive and told Gopalswami that as far as it was concerned, it was compliant and would be the attending the AGM and contesting the elections.