I am ashamed I was ever part of the BCCI: Kirti Azad

Former cricketer Kirti Azad has slammed the BCCI meeting that saw President N Srinivasan ‘step aside’ in favour of Jagmohan Dalmiya and said that the situation in the board had gone from bad to worse. He said, “It (BCCI) went against its own memo - that for a meeting of its members to be convened, 72 hours are required.”

He raised two questions. “Was the meeting transparent? Why were the members video conferencing - when they should have been present at the meeting?” And Azad did not absolve his BJP colleagues Anurag Thakur and Arun Jaitley saying that he did not spare them from taking responsibility of this terrible situation.

“I am ashamed that I was ever a part of the BCCI”, Azad added.

Former secretary Sanjay Jagdale however said that his resignation had nothing to do with the BCCI President N Srinivasan stepping down. Speaking to Rajdeep Sardesai in a late night discussion on CNN-IBN, he said, “My resignation has nothing to do with Srinivasan continuing or resigning. I have enjoyed my position as honorary secretary. But this is not the cricket that i have enjoyed or played.” However, he added that those who are franchises heard him more than the people who were in a position to control this mess.

Veteran cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle meanwhile, was of the opinion that rather than getting to the bottom of the spot fixing scandal, this was the chance to put in a model of corporate governance. He said, “Governance requires most people to be transparent but people derive strength from being opaque. This has to stop and it will only happen when there is a model in place.”

N Ram, former editor-in-chief of The Hindu said, “The key question is - what kind of probe is this going to be? The two judges are not suitable. The kind of probe that has been initiated is itself faulty.”