Leadership logjam continues in BCCI

Leadership logjam continues in BCCI

FPJ BureauUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 10:15 PM IST
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New Delhi :  Hectic parleys and backroom manoeuvring continued among BCCI bigwigs but there was still no breakthrough in the leadership logjam to find a consensus candidate for the President’s post left vacant by the demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya.

The late night meeting in Nagpur on Wednesday between two former BCCI chiefs and known foes N Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar has added a new dimension to the succession battle.

It is learnt that two have come together to cobble up the numbers even as the BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur’s faction tried to muster support for their Presidential candidate Rajeev Shukla.

According to top sources, Srinivasan is learnt to have expressed his support to Pawar or his nominee. In return Srinivasan wants that his tenure as ICC Chairman should continue unhindered.

The Tamil Nadu strongman is apprehensive that if the Thakur group retains control of the Board, they may nominate a new ICC Chairman from India in his place.

Srinivasan had called a meeting of his loyalists in Bengaluru yesterday to gauge his strength. While five of the six East Zone members had skipped the meeting, only Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) attended the meeting although their secretary Asirbad Behera, who is the voter, chose to stay back.

While KSCA represented by Brijesh Patel and Kerala CA represented by TC Mathew were there, it is not clear as to how many units actually attended this show of strength meeting called by Srinivasan.

The CAB had already clarified that they won’t attend any meeting till Dalmiya’s condolence meeting gets over on October 2. National Cricket Club, which is like Dalmiya’s family club, represented by his friend KP Kajaria also were not present. Kajaria himself is not keeping well these days.

While Thakur faction is in favour of Shukla taking over as the President, it does not have the clear majority to ensure victory for the Congress MP.

The appointment of former India captain Sourav Ganguly has also changed the power equations in the Board with indications that he may favour the Pawar faction. Although the CAB had been traditionally opposed to Pawar because of his feud with Dalmiya but things appear to be changing quickly in BCCI’s power politics.

Similarly Pawar group also have four committed voters in Mumbai CA, Vidarbha CA (Shashank Manohar), Maharashtra CA (Ajay Shirke) and Saurashtra CA (Niranjan Shah). However, some of these units are not too happy about his sudden association with Srinivasan.

They are arguing that they had resigned from the BCCI in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal to protest against Srinivasan and it will be a loss of face for them if they extend support to Pawar’s alliance with the controversial administrator.

Karachi: Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan has threatened to boycott India in ICC and Asian Cricket Council events if the BCCI officially refused to play the proposed series against Pakistan in December, according to a report.

In a hard-hitting statement, Khan said it was disappointing that until now the BCCI had not even sought permission for the December series from the concerned ministry in India.

“Nothing is final or decided as yet but if the Indian Board officially backs out of the series, then we have the option of boycotting all matches against them in ICC and ACC events as well,” Khan was quoted as saying by ‘Express’ newspaper.

Khan, a retired career diplomat, said that with December approaching, the BCCI needs to come out with a clear reply to the letter sent by the PCB regarding the status of the proposed series.

“I sent the letter on 28 August and I am still waiting for a reply. They (the BCCI) should tell us whether they want to play the series or not. Because if they say they don’t have government clearance and refuse to play the series, then we reserve the right to act against the Indian Board for not honoring an agreement at every level,” Khan added.

The PCB chief also said that since the secretary of the BCCI, Anurag Thakur, was a politician that was why he was giving negative statements on Indo-Pak relations. Khan made it clear that if the BCCI backed out of the MoU signed for the proposed series, then Pakistan would have to consider several options and one of them could be the refusal to play against India in ICC and ACC events or at any level.

“I am not saying we have decided to do this or we will do it but certainly if we don’t get to host our home series in December, then we have to consider appropriate action as well,” he said.

India and Pakistan have not played against each other since 2007, the last time the two countries played a proper bilateral Test series. Pakistan toured India in late 2012 for a short one-day series, and apart from that tour, the two countries have only played against each other in ICC or ACC events.

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