The Man Who Won’t Let Go
Srinivasan hangs on for life as BCCI, ICC crowns slip under Supreme Court orders.
Over the last three months, as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's stock began to rise in the perception game, a joke started floating around in Indian cricket circles. A satirical one-liner that summed up the worlds of sport and politics, which are so deeply intertwined in this country: “It’s lucky for Modi that Srinivasan is not in the race for prime minister!” The suggestion was that if anybody could stop the purported Modi wave, it was the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Srinivasan, whose ability to bounce back and whose will to protect his turf at all costs stands unparalleled in public life.
If a cat has nine lives, N. Srinivasan, 69, probably has ten or eleven. But the man who has ruled cricket with an iron hand, and was only getting ready to tighten his grip as the next International Cricket Council (ICC) boss in July, has finally run out of lifelines. Two days after calling Srinivasan’s BCCI “filthy” and his control over it “nauseating”, the Supreme Court made some strong sug- gestions to the Board on March 27. A bench headed by Justice A.K. Patnaik said Srinivasan must step down and suggested that he be replaced by an eminent cricketer such as Sunil Gavaskar as the interim chief. The court also said that Rajasthan Royals and Srinivasan’s Chennai Super Kings should not be part of IPL Season 7, and that no Indian Cements employee should be a part of BCCI at any level.
Though BCCI was given until March 28 to respond, these suggestions meant curtains for Srinivasan’s BCCI career, raised a host of questions about IPL 7 if two teams are forced to sit out, and even put Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s future in doubt. Dhoni, whose “special relationship” with Srinivasan is well documented, is a vice-president of India Cements. The court was acting on a report by Justice Mukul Mudgal who was looking into spot-fixing allegations in which Srinivasan’s son-in-law and team principal of CSK Gurunath Meiyappan was named an accused. His report also spoke of rampant conflicts of interest within the Board as the root cause of all the problems.
Gavaskar, on his part, told NDTV he would be willing to take up the respon- sibility because as an opening batsman he is “physically and mentally prepared for any challenge”. But the former batting legend’s name being propped up is itself ironic considering his deep links with the Board as a paid commentator who has toe the company line, and a former member of IPL’s Governing Council at a time when a number of questionable financial decisions were taken during Lalit Modi’s regime.
The court, which will pass an order after hearing BCCI’s side, disregarded Srinivasan’s last gambit to save his job: His suggestion that he will “step aside” rather than step down. Srinivasan had decided to try this approach after a series of frantic phone calls with his counsel P.S. Raman, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry on March 26. The managing director of the Rs 4,000-crore India Cements knew that his return as president would be nigh impossible at a later date because his flock of supporters in BCCI would drift towards greener pastures once he was out of power. He had, therefore, explored the possibility of recusing himself from the investigation by sitting out on a temporary basis.
The Srinivasan camp believed this
move could protect his ICC nomination. In the February 8 meeting of ICC, when it was announced that Srinivasan would be the international body’s first chairman, the wording of the ICC decision had qualified him as the “BCCI president”. It could now be argued that whoever is the next BCCI president should take over ICC instead of Srinivasan. Former Test player Shivlal Yadav, a BCCI vice-president who is next in line as per the Board’s constitution, had been among the first to suggest on March 25 that Srinivasan must resign. But he hastily changed his tune the following day when he realised the Board chief may yet survive. The ICC has so far described the rumblings in India as an “internal matter”.
Over the last eight years, as treasurer, secretary and then president of BCCI, and simultaneously as owner of the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, Srinivasan harnessed support for himself by finessing the modus operandi of largesse and patronage into an art form. Despite pockets of opposition within, BCCI has been firmly under his control through a tyranny of favours in which no segment—local boards, commentators, former players, and the current team—has been left untouched by his bounty.
As BCCI grew from a cash-rich non-profit organisation to a corporate
colossus with an annual surplus of Rs 385 crore and total assets worth Rs 3,308 crore, Srinivasan ensured that all possible voices of dissent got a larger share in the pie. He then called in these favours by changing critical clauses in the BCCI constitution that have allowed him to hold multiple posts at the same time, and extend his own tenure beyond the stipulated three-year period. One clear example was the amendment in clause 6.2.4 of the BCCI constitution in September 2008 that allowed office-bearers to own IPL teams, thereby ending the conflict of interest question at a systemic level. Another was the change in Rule 15 (vi) which allows former presidents to seek re-election, paving the way for a long run at the helm as long as he has enough votes from the 29 local associations in his pocket.
It was this convenient give-andtake that allowed Srinivasan to step aside and return to power in 2013 when the Meiyappan spot-fixing scandal had first risen following investigations by the Delhi and Mumbai Police. Friends and foes within BCCI watched as mute spectators as Srinivasan distanced himself and his CSK from his son-in-law and a commission appointed by the Board gave him a clean chit, paving the way for his return as BCCI chief after a four-month hiatus.
WithIndia conquered, he then trained his eye on taking over the world. Over the next few months, Srinivasan bullied and mollycoddled other national cricket boards to get appointed as the next boss of ICC while keeping his BCCI job. This was achieved through another amendment, this time to the international body’s constitution.
But just as he got his hands on the highest prize, the Mudgal Commission report on February 10 swept the rug from under his feet. With the Supreme Court giving the report credence, notes of dissent are being struck within the Board and overseas. Apart from Shivlal Yadav, two other vice-presidents, Ravi Savant and Chitrak Mitra, have said it’s time for Srinivasan to go. Former ICC president Ehsan Mani of Pakistan says Srinivasan’s position as ICC chairman and BCCI chief has been “untenable for a long time, and the court’s criticism is a confirmation of that”. Former ICC CEO Malcolm Speed of Australia goes a step further, describing Srinivasan as “the subject of damning criticism by the Supreme Court”, and, therefore, not qualified for the job as ICC chairman, who should be above reproach.
So what lies ahead for BCCI if Srinivasan is forced to quit? It has now been established that an investigation into spot-fixing and the Board’s financial irregularities can only be fair if it is conducted by an outside agency such as CBI. There is also a case to bring BCCI under the purview of the RTI Act. Whether or not these measures are taken will determine if BCCI continues as a secret society under a different face, or if there is a genuine systemic change that puts cricket back on top of the priority list.
And what’s next for Srinivasan and his allies? Aides say Srinivasan will be back to his rounds of golf and running India Cements. But he, the IPL, and most importantly Dhoni, may yet have some serious questions to answer. Follow the writers on Twitter @_kunal_pradhan
and @vikrantgupta73