Beyond BCCI and IPL: Should a man like Srinivasan run the ICC?

Editor’s note: This piece was originally written on 25 March, 2014. We have republished it in light of Srinivasan officially taking over as ICC chairman. Since the piece was written, Srinivasan has become an official subject of an investigation for corruption by the Supreme Court appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee, though the court declined to prevent him from taking over the ICC. Just the other day, a very senior journalist asked a question: “If Srinivasan is such a bad man, then why don’t the others say something? If he is such a bad guy, why are they making him Chairman of the new-look ICC?” At that point, one could only speculate – he keeps them all happy by giving huge grants to all associations, sends officials on tours and ensures all his cronies are part of committees and more. It was all pure speculation/opinion because no one was quite sure and no one other than Lalit Modi will come on record. But the Supreme Court’s observation has cleared the air a great deal. The apex court on Tuesday said that for a fair investigation into the allegations of betting in the IPL, BCCI president N Srinivasan has to step down. [caption id=“attachment_1449429” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of N Srinivasan. Reuters[/caption] “In our opinion, Srinivasan has to step down for a fair investigation into the allegation of betting,” said Justice A.K. Patnaik in the course of the hearing on the report of Justice Mudgal that went into the allegations of betting and spot fixing in the IPL. As senior counsel CA Sundaram sought to defend the action by the BCCI, Justice Patnaik said: “We will show the papers. You see it and tell us as a counsel about your opinion and not as a paid counsel for Srinivasan.” The court also observed: “If you truly want to save the game, if you truly want to save cricket, you have to look at the corruption within the BCCI and step down.” Justice Patnaik also said, “Why is Srinivasan sticking to his chair? If you don’t step down, then we will pass the order (asking him to)." The Supreme Court’s observations mean three things: Srinivasan was interfering with the probe When the SC says that Srinivasan has to step down so that a fair probe is possible, it is basically says that the BCCI president was meddling. So far, in the entire probe – the Chennai Super Kings has been left untouched, no charges have been brought against N Srinivasan or anything else in the Chennai team. Aditya Verma of the Bihar Cricket Association, who approached SC with the case, said: “As long as Srinivasan is in charge, who will name him?” The BCCI president has blamed the media for going after him… can he say the same about the SC? Then again, if he does step aside, the SC must ensure that he isn’t replaced by one of his cronies which if one looks at voting patterns in the BCCI, is everyone. An independent person should take charge until the matter is sorted and if you truly want to get a move on then the SC should even consider suspending IPL 7 – given the money at stake. The BCCI will surely get a move on then. The BCCI was letting him meddle with the IPL probe Srinivasan wasn’t alone. 29 of 30 BCCI State Members voted him back to power and he was elected president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association for the 12th time in a row recently. The rot is clearly deep. It would be impossible for him to organise and get things done his way in the BCCI without the support of other members like high profile politicians Rajeev Shukla, Arun Jaitley, Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and Narendra Modi. The fact that this has all happened under their nose and that they have nothing to say about it is scary. Can this man run the ICC? We have a man who has not been given a clean chit in the IPL spot-fixing investigation – at the very least, he seems to have gone out of his way to delay or even put off the investigation against his team and his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan. Even the conflict of interest probe against Mahendra Singh Dhoni, which was promised by Jagmohan Dalmiya in his time as stand-in president of the BCCI, has been shoved under the carpet by Srinivasan. Now, he is in line to become the chairman of the new-look ICC in July. The fact that he refused to step down despite having a clear conflict of interest is a truly scary proposition for the game of cricket. Can the other Boards allow this to continue or will they muster enough courage to oust the man from the game itself? Until, he comes clean, this man should not run world cricket. He shouldn’t even be allowed to come close to the seat… as the Supreme Court pointed out he likes sticking to it.