Guha letter slams cricket Board, CoA
Historian Ramachandra Guha has said he was forced to resign from the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to oversee BCCI reforms as the panel had not acted in many issues he had pointed out, including the Anil Kumble-Virat Kohli row.
In a letter addressed to CoA head, Vinod Rai, Guha said: “Sunil Gavaskar is head of a company which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel. This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI.”
Guha said: “Unfortunately, this superstar syndrome has distorted the system of Indian team contracts. As you will recall, I had pointed out that awarding (MS) Dhoni an ‘A’ contract when he had explicitly ruled himself out from all Tests was indefensible on cricketing grounds, and sends absolutely the wrong message.
“Prompt and swift action on this matter is both just and necessary. CoA’s credibility and effectiveness hinges on our being able to take bold and correct decisions... The ‘superstar’ culture that afflicts the BCCI player (former or present) the more leeway he is allowed in violating norms and procedures. This must stop – and only we can stop it,” Guha said in the letter which became public on Friday.
‘UNPROFESSIONAL’
Guha criticised the Kumble saga. “The way in which the contract of Anil Kumble has been handled... the Indian team’s record this past season has been excellent; and even if the players garner the bulk of the credit, surely the head coach and his support staff also get some. In a system based on justice and merit, the head coach’s term would have been extended handled in an extremely insensitive and unprofessional manner by the BCCI CEO and the BCCI office-bearers with the CoA, by its silence and inaction, unfortunately being complicit in this regard… In case due process had to be followed since Kumble’s original appointment was only for one year, why was this not done during April and May, when the IPL was on? If indeed the captain and the head coach were not getting along, why was not this attended to as soon as the Australia series was over in late March? Why was it left until the last minute when a major international tournament was imminent and when the uncertainty and ability to focus.”
Guha said conflict of interest was rampant in state associations. “One famous former cricketer is contracted by media houses to comment on active players while serving as president of his state association,” he said, in an apparent reference to Sourav Ganguly, who heads the Bengal unit.
Guha also claimed: “The BCCI has accorded preferential treatment to some national coaches by giving them ten-month contracts for national duty, thus allowing them to work as IPL coaches/mentors for the remaining two months. This was done in an ad hoc and arbitrary manner; the more famous the former player-turned-coach, the more likely was the BCCI to allow him to draft his own contract that left loopholes that he exploited to dodge the conflict of interest issue… No person under contract with an India team, or with NCA, should be allowed to moonlight for an IPL team.”