BCCI must wake up now; else IPl is doomed
The Supreme Court-appointed Justice RM lodha committee has exposed, through its verdict on Tuesday, the deep rot that has set into the Indian Premier league and the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which manages the tournament. More importantly, it has shown, without saying in so many words, the conspiracy of silence and inaction that the top brass of the board has been indulging in throughout the tumultuous happenings of the past two years, ever since the scandal of spot-fixing and conflict of interest broke out in the public domain. Now, the managements of the IPl as well as the BCCI have been forced to take stock of the crisis. By banning Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years and their officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra respectively for life from being involved in cricket conducted by the BCCI, the panel led by former Supreme Court Chief Justice lodha has sent out a stiff message that no longer will it be business as usual. Given that the committee is not done yet with its work — it is examining the role of Mr Sundar Raman, who had served as the IPl chief operating officer — there could be more bad news in the weeks to come for the BCCI and the hugely successful cricket league.
While the board and the debarred teams may well treat this as a temporary crisis which should be countered legally by seeking relief from the apex court, the issue goes beyond legalities. It is to do with the fall in ethics and morality among the managers and players of the game and their brazen effort to brush matters under the carpet. It may be recalled that when the issue came into the limelight, the BCCI had conducted an internal probe through two retired judges, who strangely found nothing amiss. Everybody knew that the inquiry was a sham and that the senior officials of the board had come together to protect their common interests and not the interests of the game. But the BCCI went to town with the findings, although it knew the truth was different. It required the Supreme Court's intervention to dislodge Mr N Srinivasan as BCCI chief. Sadly for Indian cricket, even senior players, retired and in service, and respected across the country and abroad, have maintained a studied silence. Some, like MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid, were associated with the tainted teams.
It is still not too late for the BCCI to clean up its act. To begin with, Mr Srinivasan should have no place in the cricket board — and he must be asked to step down as the International Cricket Council's chairman, a post he had secured after coming under a cloud over the IPl scam. The BCCI must involve professionals from outside the system to audit the financial structure of the cricket league. And it must take substantial measures to end conflicts of interest. If board members can come together cutting across party affiliations to protect their turf, surely they can cooperate to cleanse the game too. Finally, the BCCI must not shy away from being more transparent and accountable to the people. It will be good if the board volunteers that certain aspects of its functioning should be brought under the Right to Information Act. After all, it receives substantial Government assistance in running its affairs, and the public exchequer pays for that.