BCCI left to fight a lone battle

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) has been left to fight a lone battle against implementing the Justice Lodha-panel recommendations to bring in administrative reforms in its functioning as the International Cricket Council (ICC) has shown reluctance to intervene into the matter. It has been learnt that the BCCI had approached the ICC’s first independent chairman Shashank Manohar with a request to write to the Lodha panel, informing it that the Board was governed by the ICC constitution and any outside interference was not acceptable.

The Board had taken a cue from the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) support to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) after the Sports Ministry had exerted pressure on it to implement the National Sports Code. At that time, the IOC had stood firm behind the IOA and had warned the government against any interference. The international body had mentioned that national Olympic committees’ across the world were governed by the IOC charter.

The BCCI had thought of the same support from the ICC, but it has not received any communication from the sports’ international governing body so far.

According to a Board insider, the BCCI has got feelers from Manohar that he won’t be interfering in the court matter.

“It has come as a shocker to us. We were expecting support from Manohar as he had been the BCCI president and fully knows about the difficulty faced by the Board in implementing the Lodha-panel recommendations. The ICC’s interference would have helped the BCCI, but Manohar has not shown willingness to support us. Moreover, he is incommunicado on this issue,” said a source.

The BCCI’s office bearers had raised the issue during the working committee meeting on Monday and president Anurag Thakur informed about the ICC’s reluctance on the issue.

Meanwhile, adhering to one of the Lodha-panel recommendations, the BCCI has decided to field a developmental team from the north-eastern region in the upcoming Ranji Trophy season. It includes players from Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur.

However, it’s still not clear whether the teams from Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh would represent their states in the Ranji trophy.