BCCI elections postponed by a day to Oct 23: Rai
NEW DELHI: The BCCI’S muchawaited elections have been rescheduled by a day to October 23 in the wake of assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, Chairman of the Committee of Administrators (COA) running Indian cricket Vinod Rai said on Tuesday.
Both the states will be voting on October 21 in a single-phase elections and to ensure that voter members from the two units are not inconvenienced, the Cricket Board poll, which was to be held on October 22, has been postponed by a day.
“The BCCI elections are on track. It’s just because of the state polls, we have decided to reschedule by a day. So it will now be held on October 23 instead of October 22. Anything else that you read anywhere will be factually incorrect,” Rai said on Tuesday.
Another COA member Diana Edulji said while she is “against any delay in conducting the BCCI elections”, she understands that a day’s extension is due to the state polls.
“As per the Supreme Court order passed on September 20, the state units may be granted a few days’ grace but BCCI elections should be on time. We may defer it by a day due to assembly elections in Maharashtra on 21st,” the former India women’s captain said.
Rai was happy with the outcome of the Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday during which its petition seeking clarification on the permission granted to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association to hold elections, was admitted.
“Today, the petition came up for hearing. The BCCI counsel was there, TNCA counsel and amicus curiae P S Narsimha was there. I am happy with the outcome,” he said.
“The SC took cognisance of the fact that some state units are misinterpreting the order mischievously on ‘disqualification being confined to office-bearers only’,” said Rai.
“Many felt that it meant that the 70-year clause (age cap), non-indian passport holder clause have been done away with, which is not the case,” the former CAG added.
The COA, in its petition to the apex court, has also submitted the status of compliance of 38 state units of BCCI.
There are 24 full members, who have registered their respective constitutions as per Coa’s approval. Three members—railways, Services and Universities—will have an authorised representative as per the BCCI constitution.
The COA has also informed the court that seven full members have had their constitution approved by it but have not yet submitted the document.
There are two members, who are in dialogue with COA and are on their way to compliance.
According to the COA, only two members—haryana and Tamil Nadu are “not compliant and failed to bring their constitution in line with the approved one.”
The BCCI elections will mark an end to the tenure of the Supreme Court-appointed administrators, governing Indian cricket.
The COA has been administering the game since January 2017 and was mandated to implement the administrative reforms suggested by the Justice (Retd) R M Lodha committee. NEW DELHI: As chairman of the Delhi selection committee in the 2017-18 season, former India pacer Atul Wassan was credited with picking a team that reached the Ranji Trophy final. The panel was expected to be rewarded and retained. However, the entire committee was changed and the side finished at the bottom of their pool in 2018-19, prompting the Delhi cricket association (DDCA) management to bring back Wassan for the forthcoming season. In a chat, he talks about his plans and points the direction in which Delhi players must progress.
Delhi were Ranji runners-up in 2017-18, but finished last in their pool last season.
We were all on board the year before last and had conviction. We got 3-4 players from outside the system and luckily for us, they all performed. Selection is an imperfect science. But if you back players, they are more likely to perform. We removed some of the players who were carrying on year after year, not going forward to the Indian team and not going out—just sustaining themselves with the team not winning. We wanted to shake things up and did. (Unmukt Chand, Milind Kumar, Parvinder Awana and Sumit Narwal had to sit out). We got the results. Last year, different people came in and they had a different viewpoint. Some who were discarded were brought back, so new players lost confidence. There were injuries too. Nitish Rana and Navdeep Saini went for India A duty. Some like Himmat Singh didn’t perform. A lot of factors combined for Delhi not performing to the optimal.
Too many opening combinations were tried last year.
The team’s core is the most important. If you keep breaking it, the boys will struggle to gel. There was an odd injury too (batsman Kunal Chandela). I cannot say everything will be okay now. Whatever pool of players we have, we will try and do we did earlier. Hope players perform. Manjot Kalra (hit 101* in the 2018 U-19 World Cup win, but wasn’t picked for Delhi last season) is one of the most exciting players coming through. We don’t have much time, but will get an idea from the one-dayers.
Is captaincy an issue?
There are many options for captaincy (Dhruv Shorey has been named captain for the Vijay Hazare Trophy). If Ishant Sharma is available, it is a lottery. He is a wonderful captain. There are other contenders, but some could go for India A, etc., like Nitish Rana. Ideally, we’ll want a performer to captain the entire season. But due to such a robust season for India A, it may not be possible. If Ishant and Navdeep Saini are available to play, then we are strong contenders.
Last year, chief selector Amit Bhandari was beaten up over a selection row?
It was a wake-up call. Pulls and pressures are always there. How you can avoid it is by ensuring that selections, camps don’t happen in far-off places and there is security. DDCA has taken cognisance of it. It is their job to ensure security.
In the last 10 years, Delhi hasn’t succeeded consistently?
I know we have underachieved in the last 10 years. We’ll win a one-off tournament here and there, but the consistency which used to be there earlier, isn’t there anymore. Earlier, what would happen is that one-odd player would play for India but the rest would be available. There were no A tours, or they were rare. Now, there is so much cricket you often don’t get the cream.
Many teams don’t have stars but have many good first-class players. Like Vidarbha (the 2017-18 and 2018-19 Ranji champions), there are some good players, but they are not India contenders. So they keep getting the entire team. With Mumbai and Delhi there is always a problem, 5-6 players keep going here and there every season. Also, we have lacked long-term preparation and planning. It is not like you come and start playing a week before. We need to have a developmental plan, an off-season plan. Invest for 2-3 years, then results will start coming.
MAHARASHTRA AND HARYANA WILL HAVE ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS ON OCTOBER 21, SO THE CRICKET POLLS WERE SHIFTED BY A DAY FOR THE SAKE OF THE VOTER MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATIONS
You have a young team. What do you tell them?
I am very blunt. I always tell
From outside, did you notice any lack of motivation?
Why would there be? You’re playing for Delhi. If you do well, you’ll get selected for the India team. You are getting plenty of money. You are getting a comfortable lifestyle, the physio is there, trainer is there, you are staying in a five-star hotel. There are so many India A team tours happening. Emerging nations tournaments are taking place. These players are totally pampered. If, in spite of this, you still need motivation, shame on you.