Next week the International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings will be held in Cape Town.
At the meeting it will be interesting to see the equation between ICC CEO David Richardson and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Anurag Thakur.
With the Supreme Court asking Thakur to provide a personal affidavit by 17 October on whether he asked Richardson to state that the Lodha recommendations are Government interference, the BCCI president has a tightrope to walk.
His affidavit could result in more standoff between BCCI and ICC.
ICC CEO Drawn in Domestic Battles
Potentially, Thakur has to prove that he asked Richardson to write a letter or that the ICC CEO may have misunderstood what he is asking or saying. It is a tough situation for Thakur to be in even as he meets Richardson in Cape Town on important matters concerning world cricket.
It is certainly a distraction that both Thakur and Richardson could have avoided. This will be the latest in the ongoing saga between ICC and BCCI, or importantly in the Shashank Manohar vs Thakur battle.
Richardson on his part, with his interview to an Indian television station has been unwittingly drawn into a purely domestic Indian cricket matter and that too in the highest courts of the land. This is certainly not looking good for all the parties concerned in this matter. Hence, in all the drama surrounding the court battle, the ruling on Thakur stands out.
SC Tightens Noose Around State Associations, And BCCI
Of the other rulings by the Supreme Court on Friday, the state associations and by extension the BCCI have been put on notice. With the Supreme Court not relenting, there is no way back for either side. The states have to give a written undertaking. This is a way of the Supreme Court to tighten the noose around the states and indirectly, the BCCI.
That the Supreme Court did not directly pass an order on Friday was considered to be a huge relief. But what the apex court has done, is to initiate a process whereby the states have to comply or be prepared to be rolled over. The states have no leeway in any form from the apex court.
This has come about because the BCCI themselves requested the Supreme Court for time, as they needed to get the consent of all the state associations.
SC Changes the Game’s Rules, Puts BCCI in a Bind
With Friday’s ruling, the onus is on the states to fall in line. This could spell the death-knell for a lot of career administrators, politicians and other government servants involved in Indian cricket at all levels. Those not suffering from the nine-year rule or the cooling-off period, will survive for now. But the die has been cast and the states have to essentially abide by it.
The BCCI on its part also is caught in a bind because till now the get-out clause in their arguments was that the states have not agreed. But the apex court has changed the rules of the game and has put the states at the forefront.
The BCCI through its lawyers have been requesting some leniency in terms of the funds release too. Their logic has been that cricket will stop and funds will be denied for genuine cricketing activities. Almost all states have reserves to help last for a period of time. What the Supreme Court has stopped is merely funds that were released post the Emergent Working Committee last week.
But the impression that cricket will be stalled by Friday’s order may get contested by some. Also almost all cricket activities in the BCCI and the state associations are actually run by the paid employees/professionals.
The work put in by those employed by the BCCI and the state associations have not stopped because of the Lodha recommendations. In fact these very employees are part of the engine room that keeps Indian cricket rolling.
It’s a bit like the bureaucrats keeping a government running even as the political bosses change roles. Maybe that needs to be kept in mind before prophecies about the impact on cricket functioning in the country.
The simpler route may perhaps be if the states provide the affidavit and get their remaining funds by right. Then there will not be cause to worry about the future of cricket in the country.
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