New Delhi: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar along with other enlisted in the BCCI’s panel of commentators will have to sign an undertaking that they don’t have any ‘Conflict of Interest’ as per the recommendations by the Lodha Panel.
The BCCI has already zeroed in on four names as their enlisted commentators. They are Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Murali Kartik and Harsha Bhogle, who is returning after a fall out with the BCCI post the World T20 in 2016.
The BCCI however, did not officially name the quartet Wednesday as Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji said that all the issues pertaining to ‘Conflict of Interest’ is being looked into.
“We have discussed the names but it has not been finalised. We need to look into the ‘Conflict of Interest’ rules properly. We still don’t know who’s having what interest,” Edulji told mediapersons.
In the undertaking the commentators will be primarily asked to declare that they do not have any relationship with any players’ management firms.
“The BCCI does not want to take any chances. The Lodha Panel reforms states clearly that one needs to ensure that anyone associated with the BCCI does not have any Conflict of Interest. We must remember that former CoA member Ramchandra Guha, in his resignation letter, had referred to Gavaskar’s involvement with Professional Management Group,” a BCCI official, who can’t come on record, told this agency.
For Bhogle, it will be a comeback in the establishment after his acrimonious exit in 2016. Some of the players had not liked his critical comments during the India-Bangladesh World T20 game last year. As a result, Bhogle was not seen on air during the better part of 2016 and earlier part of 2017.
Among other developments, India’s participation in Olympics will be decided only by the general body of the BCCI, which in all likelihood won’t change its present stance of not taking part as they don’t want to follow the Olympic charter.
A decision in this regard was taken during Wednesday’s meeting where it was also decided to award Rs 15 lakh each to members of men’s and women’s selection committees.
“The matter (Olympics participation) is still being discussed and it will go to the general body,” Edulji informed.
On the cash award of Rs 15 lakh to the selectors, she said: “They have been rewarded for selecting good teams.”
The BCCI is also trying to adhere to the Lodha Panel recommendation of 15-day window between international assignments and the IPL.
“We are trying our level best. We will try and adhere to it as far as possible since the Future Tours & Programmes (FTP) is decided way in advance,” Eduljee pointed out.
A notable issue that was supposed to be discussed was former skipper Mohammed Azharuddin’s pending dues and that matter has also been referred to the general body.
“Azharuddin’s case was discussed at length. The legal team has given its opinion and I believe general body will take a favourable decision,” acting BCCI president CK Khanna said.
Khanna also informed that BCCI treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhary is working on the modalities of pay hike for domestic cricketers and a proper figure will be worked out before the next BCCI-CoA meeting August 23.
Press trust of India
