#IPLVerdict: Too Many Talking Heads And Very Few Decisions

When it comes to taking strong punitive measures, IPL GC is pretty much powerless, says Chandresh Narayanan.

• Too many committees involving same set of people
• Many talking heads lead to indecision
• Sundar Raman sits on GC as an invitee but remains in the eye of the storm
• Why is Ravi Shastri let off without being asked any questions?

Sunday was a classic example of why those staking so much faith in the BCCI meeting processes need to temper down their expectations. The IPL Governing Council (GC) has been emasculated since the heady days of the Lalit Modi era and hence does not enjoy the same powers as in 2008-2010.

So anyone expecting massive decisions on Sunday was certainly left disappointed. But if you have followed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for long, you will realise that this was pretty much par for the course. There is only one committee of the BCCI which is all powerful and that is the working committee.

No Say in Decisions

Any other committee can at best recommend actions, but cannot necessarily decide on anything. That is the flip side of having a broad, consultative approach via committees, because you necessarily end up having too many talking heads and very few decisions. The only committee, to a large extent, which does not have to recommend anything, is the selection committee.

When it comes to taking strong punitive measures, IPL GC is pretty much powerless, because it is merely an oversight panel for the functioning of the tournament. So it therefore begs the question: after the IPL GC had been ‘apprised’, why wasn’t there a joint sitting with the Working Committee?

After all the office-bearers and certain members sit on both panels. This way the BCCI could have been seen as doing something affirmative. Now, even as they have erred on the side of caution by referring the Justice Lodha verdict to a working group, in the eyes of the paying public it is a pure case of delaying tactics.

The Lodha panel verdict is final and binding was a given, even before the learned judges made it known to one and all. So which aspect of the verdict is the working group going to study is something that everyone will be keen to ask.

This was the perfect opportunity to show that the BCCI was keen to set its money spinning tournament right, by endorsing corporate governance reforms just for the sake of IPL’s future. This way IPL and the BCCI would have risen in the eyes of many.

There are many corporate governance experts who have given new life to dying businesses. In this case, IPL is hardly dying. A few strong measures needed to have been suggested for IPL’s ailments, after all the GC sits for that very purpose as an oversight.

Two years after the previous IPL GC failed to act this current set was expected to deliver in double quick time. That was certainly not going to be the case. The media too needs to therefore temper down the hype around these committee meetings, because they essentially do nothing more than raise the expectations.

One marked man, Sundar Raman, was around at the IPL GC meeting on Sunday. Until he is not acted against by the Justice Lodha panel, Raman can certainly be around, but should he? As IPL COO he reports to the IPL GC, but can he sit in the meeting when he himself is said to have kept a lid on the mess?

While Raman remains in the eye of the storm, one man who escapes all scrutiny is Ravi Shastri. How can someone like, Shastri, who has been part of all IPL GCs since 2008, be still on the panel is a wonder. He was as much a party to all decisions as a GC member and remained silent while the rot set in.

While Raman as COO deserves all scrutiny, Shastri too deserves some flak. Shastri is now also the Indian Team Director. How can he then continue to be on the IPL GC is a question that no one is raising. because after all isn’t it a case of conflict of interest-the root cause of all present IPL ills.

Read who said what at IPL’s governing council meeting.