Miffed by BCCI conditions, Chappell turns down commentary offer

For a man who took on Don Bradman when the legend was the Australia Board chief, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is nothing. A report in Hindustan Times says that Ian Chappell, whose frank insights into cricket are well-known, has rejected an offer from ESPN to do live commentary during the India vs Australia series which will begin shortly because he didn’t want to be restricted by the BCCI’s conditions. “I was invited by ESPN to do commentary. I emailed back asking who I was working for and the reply was; ‘I was contracted by ESPN but I would be subject to BCCI restrictions.’ I emailed back to ask what these restrictions were and was told; ‘I couldn’t talk about Indian selection, DRS or administrative matters.’ I responded saying I didn’t feel I could do my job properly under those circumstances and therefore declined the offer,” Chappell told HT via email. [caption id=“attachment_1159175” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Standing firm - Ian Chappell. Getty Images[/caption] He also mentioned that he had no clue whether Matthew Hayden was roped in in his place. Popular Indian commentators were recently criticised for not uttering a word about the IPL spot-fixing scandal immediately after it broke out. And while TV networks usually carry a policy which says that commentators shouldn’t say something which brings harm to their brand, the BCCI are particularly known to be very strict in their restrictions. Last year in November, several international photo agencies boycotted BCCI-organised series after they refused a few media accreditations. However, the BCCI denied the allegations . In February this year, they refused to give accreditation to well-known Australian cricket journalist Jim Maxwell over some rights-based issue. Australia are scheduled to play seven ODIs in India after the tour kicks-off with a one-off T20 match in Rajkot on 10 October. Click here to read the full Hindustan Times report.