#360view: BCCI pay for IPL scandal fiasco

Ajit Vijaykumar 00:20 03/01/2017
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  • Paying the Piper: Anurag Thakur

    It’s the end of the road as far as the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) old guard is concerned.

    The drama that started with the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal and the prickly issue of conflict of interest among BCCI officials has ended with the top two officials of the board kicked out of their post and an entirely new set up being prepared for Indian cricket administration.

    It has been a long-drawn-out affair with multiple issues. It all started with the 2013 IPL fixing saga, where three Rajasthan Royals players were caught cheating.

    However, Chennai Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan, who is the son-in-law of former BCCI president N Srinivasan, and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra were exonerated by a BCCI appointed panel.

    Things took a dramatic turn from thereon with the Supreme Court taking it upon itself to not only probe the franchises but also set the stage for a complete overhaul of the BCCI to ensure clarity in its functioning and elimination of conflict of interest.

    The Supreme Court had to force Srinivasan to step down in 2014 as BCCI chief to allow a fair and exhaustive investigation into the scandal as Srinivasan had refused to do so earlier. It was this defiant attitude that infuriated the court and also the general public.

    Even though nearly three years have passed since Srinivasan was asked to step down, the reluctance of the Indian board to get its house in order immediately after the spot fixing scandal and before the courts were forced to intervene is what has resulted in this mess.

    For all the good that the Indian board has done as far as infrastructure, revenue generation and the general health of the game is concerned, it is also true that some unforgivable acts were committed. That the BCCI, for some time, allowed its officials to have commercial interests in IPL teams was preposterous.

    Also, they found only the players guilty in the spot fixing scandal and not the franchise bigwigs, which the court did in July 2015. Meiyappan and Kundra were barred from any involvement in cricket matches. It was too late by the time the Indian board realised the seriousness of the situation.

    Once the Supreme Court appointed a committee, headed by retired former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha, in January 2015 to look at the quantum of punishment for the erring IPL bosses and also recommend ways to streamline the BCCI administration, the writing was on the wall.

    The BCCI was given enough time to accept all recommendations of the court, which were delivered in July last year. The Indian board fought to get some concessions as far as tenure of officials and age limit was concerned but the Supreme Court stuck to its stand. And once it realised the BCCI was not going to relent, the court dismissed BCCI chief Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke on Monday.

    What the court has unleashed is not a change but a purge. Officials above the age of 70 and those who have served three terms now have to move out. It doesn’t matter if the said officials are honest and efficient. Most of those who have helped Indian cricket reach the position it currently enjoys have been banished with no way back.

    Maybe some of the decisions by the court are harsh but if the Indian board had acted appropriately, there would not have been such a forceful intervention from the outside.

    The BCCI played with fire in the aftermath of the IPL scandal and got burned.

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