‘BCCI should enact Lodha guidelines’
NEW DELHI: Former India team director Ravi Shastri has said that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should implement 80 to 85 percent of Justice R.M. Lodha Committee's recommendations that are related to administration, governance, finance and election process.
"80 to 85 percent of Lodha Committee recommendations should be implemented, but problems can arise over remaining 15 percent recommendations due to practicalities," Shastri was quoted as saying by India TV.
"Reforms in cricket are needed and 80 to 85 per cent recommendations of Lodha Committee should be implemented. In some cases, we should give 'danda' (be stern), it is needed," he added. However, Shastri said, appointing only three instead of five national selectors from the five zones would be a wrong decision.
"If you want fair selections, in a big country like India, which has more players than the players combined in other cricket-playing countries, at least five national selectors representing five zones are needed, along with 10 talent scouts, two for each zone," Shastri said.
Similarly, Shastri questioned the Lodha committee's recommendation for a three-year 'cooling off' period for administrators with a fixed tenure of three years.
"If you want to appoint cricketers, then you need continuity. Appoint them for a minimum five-six years, then a three-year cooling off period, and they can be reappointed for another six years."
"If an administrator is doing good work, why should he be removed after three years? Where is the guarantee that his successor would carry on the good work of his predecessor?," the 54-yearold said. "Even now there can be a dialogue (between BCCI and Lodha committee)."
Shastri further asked: "If you think BCCI was that bad, how come we won three World Cups and we gave cricketers like Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to the world?".
The former India skipper also spoke highly of Test captain Virat Kohli, who has hit a purple patch in the last couple of years.
"I am truly enamoured of Virat Kohli. India should be proud of him. Even M.S. Dhoni has said, time will come when Virat will have to lead India across all three formats of the game. Kohli has sheer consistency and is a great role model for youngsters. At the age of 28, Kohli has made 26 or 27 centuries in one-day, he has made 35 to 40 international hundreds. He has ten more years of cricket, and if he continues to play, without injury, then anything can happen. ." IANS