Guha’s googly stumps MS Dhoni, Gavaskar, Virat, Ganguly & BCCI

WAR WITHIN SC-appointed panel member’s quit letter says what’s wrong with BCCI

Indian cricket’s “superstar culture”, unaddressed conflict of interest issues and BCCI's “insensitive” handling of coach Anil Kumble — noted historian Ramachandra Guha has opened a pandora’s box in his resignation letter to the Committee of Administrators (CoA), a body appointed by the Supreme Court to cleanse Indian cricket.

Guha spared no one and questioned skipper Virat Kohli's role in selection of coach, besides alleging conflict of interest on part of Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

The letter also questioned the move to give former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni a Grade A contract despite not playing all three formats.

In a seven-page letter, Guha expressed his disgust to CoA chief Vinod Rai for the “extremely insensitive manner” that the speculated Kohli-Kumble fallout was handled by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and the BCCI office-bearer Amitabh Chaudhary. He accused CoA of “silence and inaction”, claiming that the panel was “unfortunately being complicit in this regard”.

In his parting shot, Guha recommended former cricketr Javagal Srinath’s name as his replacement as a former cricketer in the Committee of Administrators.

While Guha, in his submission to Supreme Court cited personal reasons for quitting CoA, his letter asks a lot of uncomfortable questions to the powers that be of Indian cricket.

Guha has directly questioned Kohli's “veto power” on deciding matters like appointment of a coach and even the commentators' panel. It also makes it clear that Kumble-Kohli rift is a reality. Guha writes: “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 would undermine the morale and ability to focus of the coach, the captain and the team.”

Guha also lambasted the superstar culture prevalent in the Indian cricketing setup that has allowed Dhoni to retain a Grade A contract when he has given up on Test cricket in 2014.

“Unfortunately, this superstar syndrome has also distorted the system of Indian team contracts. As you will recall, I had pointed out that awarding M.S. Dhoni an 'A' contract when he had ruled himself out from all Test matches was indefensible on cricketing grounds and sends absolutely the wrong message,” he wrote.

Guha was also severe on the likes of Rahul Dravid for having dual contracts with both the BCCI and IPL franchises. “No person under contract with an India team, or with the NCA, should be allowed to moonlight for an IPL team too,” he writes.

An excerpt of the letter states: “The question of conflict of interest, which had laid unaddressed ever since the committee began its work, and which I have been repeatedly flagging since I joined. For instance, 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.” Apart from taking on Kohli and Dravid, Guha also had strong reservations about Sunil Gavaksar's business interests in Professional Management Group (PMG) and his firm managing a current player – Shikhar Dhawan. He, in fact, told Rai how he had apprised them of PMG signing up Dhawan's endorsements. “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,” Guha wrote in his letter.

“S unil 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,” GUHA