BCCI is doing little to win back fans
The working group on the Indian Premier League (IPL) verdict on Thursday decided that it was in the best interest of the cash-rich league that Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) remain suspended for two years — according to the verdict of the Lodha committee — and fresh bids are invited for two new teams. It was also decided that when the RR and CSK return after two years, it will be a ten-team format — starting 2018.
And guess what? The working committee was supposed to ratify the recommendation of the working group in Kolkata on Friday. But interestingly, the meeting never happened — citing former chief N Srinivasan’s presence.
Considering that everyone knew that he will attend the meeting as Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) president, the decision to wait till the D-Day and then call off the meeting once again shows the current dispensation’s fake show of concern to clean the image of the BCCI.
Coming back to the decision of the working group, the only question that comes to mind is about the need for the formation of the working group if the recommendation had to be so obvious. Did it really need Rajeev Shukla, Anurag Thakur, Aniruddh Chaudhary, Sourav Ganguly and legal expert Usha Nath Banerjee to convene meetings with various franchise owners and sponsors to decide this? Couldn’t even the cricket-loving five-year-old kid in the neighbourhood do that?
Moreover, if the BCCI wasn’t willing to act tough and actually go ahead and terminate the two teams — citing a backlash in the future — what was the point of crying out loud that cleaning the image of the board is the new dispensation’s primary motive?
Considering that the BCCI has had huge legal expenses since 2013, thanks to the outbreak of the spot-fixing fiasco, it would have been more logical to anyway implement the verdict of the Lodha committee, rather than forming this new group to look into the ruling and then come out with a lame verdict.
More interestingly, Thakur tried to keep the interest alive during the meeting by claiming that termination of the two teams was very much an option. This despite IPL chairman Shukla making it clear that termination wasn’t really an issue that had been discussed.
“Termination is a very much an option, as much as auctioning two new teams is,” Thakur said. The BCCI’s weak attempt to clean its image is a complete flop considering that RM Lodha had made it clear that terminating the two teams was very much an option, days after BCCI officials claimed that the Lodha committee had only asked for the suspension of the RR and CSK.
“It is for the BCCI to consider terminating the teams and the Supreme Court judgment is clear on that. The BCCI can do that,” he made it clear.
Passing the buck is an old trick used by BCCI administrators, but the new regime — led by president Jagmohan Dalmiya and secretary Thakur — has again spoken about transparency and goodwill. But then, Dalmiya and Thakur lost out on an opportunity to show the cricket fanatics in the country that they really matter.