Srinivasan set to become new ICC chairman

Sport360 staff 10:22 23/06/2014
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  • No roadblocks: Srinivasan.

    Suspended Indian cricket chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan is ex­pected to be anointed as the new ICC chairman at this week’s annual conference in Melbourne which is set to address growing concerns about corruption in the sport.

    The Board of Control for Cricket in India has confirmed the 69-year-old industrialist will stand as chair­man of the International Cricket Council despite being suspended by India’s Supreme Court as the coun­try’s cricket chief.

    Srinivasan — seen as the most powerful man in world cricket — was among 13 people named in a damn­ing report into corruption allega­tions in the Indian Premier League.

    The IPL Twenty20 competition has been embroiled in allegations of illegal betting and spot-fixing, including against Srinivasan’s son-in-law.

    Despite the scandal, BCCI secre­tary Sanjay Patel confirmed Srini­vasan would go to Melbourne and was expected to be anointed ICC chairman during the five-day meet­ing scheduled to begin on Tueday. 

    “By the month end, India will take a leading role in the ICC. Mr Srinivas­an is going,” Patel was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as saying.

    “There is no Supreme Court bar on him. Both of us are going to Mel­bourne.

    “In the last four months we have settled (the issue) with all the full members of the ICC and convinced them about the new structure and the new financial model of the ICC which would be followed in the com­ing years.”

    Srinivasan’s likely ascension to the head of the ICC follows contro­versial changes last February to the governance of the global govern­ing body, which handed the major­ity of the powers and revenue to the sport’s “big three” nations — India, Australia and England.

    With its massive TV audiences, India generates almost 70 percent of the game’s revenues and several Test nations are heavily dependent on its largesse.

    Also on the ICC conference agen­da is a code of ethics for the execu­tive board, which is expected to be approved by its members to provide the framework under which the new regime will operate.

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