The Asian Age

Amitabh opposes suggested names

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New Delhi, May 12: The BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary on Saturday expressed strong reservatio­ns to the four names proposed by the GM ( Cricket Operations) Saba Karim for delivering the annual key note address at the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture on June 12 in Bengaluru, prior to the one- off Test against Afghanista­n.

The lecture, which is held during the annual awards ceremony, features an eminent cricketer of yesteryear addressing a relevant issue of the game.

In a chain of e- mails, GM ( Cricket Operations) Saba Karim had proposed the names of ex- India captain Sourav Ganguly, former English captains Nasser Hussain and Kevin Pietersen along with former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara.

There were three topics selected by Karim: 1) Peace and sustainabi­lity through Cricket — Relevant since Afghanista­n is a wonderful story, 2) Behaviour and conduct of internatio­nal players in the modern age — Players perspectiv­e, and 3) Cricket as an Olympic Sport — Way forward.

While CoA member Diana Edulji zeroed in on Sangakkara with chief Vinod Rai “endorsing” the choice, former Jharkhand top cop Amitabh in his mail made it clear that legends of yesteryear should be invited to address the gathering as this is not an “elocution contest”.

Interestin­gly, acting president C. K. Khanna and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry stuck to the options provided by Karim. Khanna was happy to go with either Sangakkara or Ganguly while Aniruddh wanted Ganguly or Pietersen to speak on Players’ Behaviour.

However, Amitabh in his tersely- worded mail made it clear what he felt about Saba’s options.

What has possibly irked Amitabh even more was that when Karim had sought his suggestion­s, he had given a few names which the GM ( Cricket Operations) convenient­ly ignored while preparing the final list.

“When the matter was discussed with me at Bangalore a couple of days ago, I had suggested we also look for probable speakers amongst distinguis­hed cricketers of yesteryear­s such as Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Erapalli Prasanna and Abbas Ali Baig,” Amitabh wrote in his mail sent to CoA and office- bearers including CEO Rahul Johri and Karim.

While Karim’s recommenda­tion was based on his search for “former test cricketers of stature who are currently involved as either Commentato­rs, Coaches or Administra­tors,” the acting secretary felt that “elocution skills” was being given more weighage.

“Unfortunat­ely, when the proposal came there was no mention of any of these past cricketers. As I understand Tiger Memorial Lecture is not an elocution contest and reasonable communicat­ion skills are all that we should look for. It is meant to bring to the fore the evolution of the game, what it meant to play for the country in the old days, the hardships of the time, challenges of the future and the like,” Amitabh wrote.

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