The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in a tight corner.
On Friday we will probably see the first signs of their reaction to the Supreme Court observations made on Wednesday. In their scathing line on the BCCI, the Supreme Court judges have virtually thrown down the gauntlet.
The Indian cricket top brass are now facing a Hobson’s choice in dealing with this issue now. The Supreme Court appointed Lodha Panel too has suggested that the BCCI top officials need to be superseded if the recommendations have to be implemented.
Hence the Special General Meeting (SGM) on Friday will give an indication of where the Indian cricket system is headed.
The BCCI is fighting battles at various levels:
- a) Firstly Lodha Panel is handing out deadlines that they need to follow.
- b) Then the Supreme Court is keeping a keen eye on the perceived slack response to those deadlines.
At many levels it is a battle of the honorary officialdom to retain control of a system that has existed for over 80 years. Essentially, the Lodha Panel is trying to hand control to the qualified professionals and it is this handover that is the cause of friction.
Former captains like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri may have batted for BCCI, more importantly for the honorary officialdom, but even that has not convinced the Supreme Court.
The inside buzz is that the BCCI has forever worked with a plan to counter the Lodha Panel recommendations. But it seems the patience of the Lodha Panel and the Supreme Court is wearing thin. A lot of decisions of the BCCI at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) may have jarred the honourable judges.
Most importantly is what they may see as ‘defiance’ when it came to appointing the selection panel. Now the Lodha Panel, rightly or wrongly, recommended a three-member panel with only Test cricketers.
The BCCI AGM appointed five, with two ex-players — Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjape — who had only played ODIs. The entire process of the BCCI to select the selectors was also against the Lodha Panel recommendations.
It is quite possible now that both Khoda and Paranjape may have to make way to fall in line with the Supreme Court diktats. This was an eminently avoidable situation not just for the BCCI but also for the sake of the two former players.
The full Indian cricket season has started, crucial decisions have to be made with regards to the selection of Indian Test squads, possible change in limited-overs leadership and comebacks of veterans.
At this critical stage, the selection panel undergoing drastic changes should have been avoided. If anything, the previous panel should have been handed an extension till the Lodha Panel-forced changes had been implemented.
Then there was the issue of the constitution of the other committees and election of the secretary Ajay Shirke for the coming year which again was against what the Lodha Panel recommended.
Then there are other crucial issues like the Indian Premier League (IPL) TV rights which need to be decided. Now such a crucial money-spinning deal will have to wait for the dust to settle. In the face of uncertainty over the honorary officialdom, the professional managers led by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri cannot move forward. It therefore raises question on BCCI’s move at this very crucial juncture and that too right when the season has started.
There have been scraps with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and also suggestion by their CEO David Richardson, that BCCI sought a letter from them on the Lodha Panel recommendations. The ICC has refused to get involved in the matter as it involves India’s Supreme Court.
An ICC response could have given a lifeline to the BCCI in delaying or stalling the Lodha Panel recommendations. Now if the Supreme Court, as it indicated, appoints a different panel of administrators, as also recommended by the Lodha Panel, the BCCI could look at it as interference and plead to the ICC for help.
At all levels, the BCCI has been encircled by the legal luminaries.
This was the perfect scenario for the BCCI to initiate reforms in the State Associations. The major source of worry for Indian cricket is in the states, where varied constitutions/demographics have resulted in differing ways of administering the game.
Hence the BCCI could itself have led the way in cleaning up the system in the states once the Lodha Panel recommendations had come in. The Supreme Court would have probably seen reason if the BCCI had been conciliatory in its approach right from the start. But now it seems like the BCCI is left with no option and has to comply.
Friday could give us an indication whether we are headed towards a chaotic few months in the boardrooms or whether some peace finally ensues.
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