N Srinivasan vs Thakur: The BCCI's war of attrition has just begun

The Supreme Court scored a technical knockout on Srinivasan by preventing him from standing for reelection as BCCI president. Now it appears the new leadership of the BCCI is going for the knockdown in what is likely to be a heavyweight battle, with control of Indian cricket the prize.

Reports emerged yesterday that Srinivasan may have used Rs 14 crore of the board’s money to spy on board members, with board secretary Anurag Thakur supposedly leading an investigation into the claim. At the same time, the ICC, which is still headed by Srinivasan, sent a letter to BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya claiming that Thakur was seen in the company of alleged bookie, Karan Gilhotra.

While neither issue came up for discussion at the BCCI’s Working Committee meeting yesterday, it isn’t surprising given how the board has always functioned. Jagmohan Dalmiya was expunged from the board in 2005 after losing power. Lalit Modi was sent packing to London in 2010.

Firstpost deputy editor Ashish Magotra and Sports Editor Tariq Engineer discuss whether these developments mean it is now Srinivasan’s turn to find out how vindictive the board can be once a person loses his hold on power?

Tariq Engineer: I am not surprised by these revelations. Srinivasan’s lust for power has no limits and it is easy for me to imagine him bugging his opponents in the board. He’ll want every edge he can get.

Normally, I’d back Srinivasan to win these kinds of battles. It is what he has done all his life. But I wonder if he has underestimated Dalmiya? It also seems like he has made an enemy of Thakur, who strikes me as someone who won’t be pushed around.

Ashish, is Srini actually in trouble this time? Has the Supreme Court weakened him just enough for the others to finish him off?

Ashish Magotra: Is Srinivasan in trouble? Yes. Is he weak enough right now? Yes. Is this something he can’t get out of? Can’t Say. Srinivasan counters by saying he has done everything by the book. The only question there is which book is he talking about?

The bigger worry for me is that this is still only the tip of the iceberg. If this man can get India Cements Limited to table a proposal which would allow the transfer of control of Chennai Super Kings to a trust, which has N Srinivasan among the trustees, at only Rs five lakh (approx. $8000) then what else is he capable of? If he can allegedly pay BCCI money to an agency to get them to spy on other Board officials then what else is he hiding? If he can withhold important BCCI files from the current president then what else can he do?

Frankly, this is a scary battle. And at some level, it is one that I hope Srinivasan loses only because I want the players/ex-players/public and others to see the full extent of the damage done. But then again, as you said it won’t be easy to take him down. He understand the politics of the Board but he has lost his bargaining chip.

Is Dalmiya the man to do it – well, that is what the other side is hoping for… then again, there is that ICC (which is Srini’s fiefdom at the moment) letter about Anurag Thakur associating with a bookie… what do you make of that?

Tariq Engineer: I don’t know what to think of Thakur hanging out with a bookie. The ICC appear to have photographs of the them together, so there seems to be no doubt the two know each other.

We also know the board isn’t exactly an innocent party when it comes to fixing. The CBI report back in 2000 made that clear and nothing that has happened since has done anything to change the perception. Remember former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told Times of India that there was political pressure on him to stop investigating fixing in the IPL.

In any case, the BCCI has said they are not going to do act on the letter because it was clearly sent by Srinivasan. While the occasional skeleton does tumble out of the BCCI’s closest, far more remain buried.

My worry is the politics will distract the BCCI from its actual job of running cricket. The BCCI has authorised Dalmiya to form committee of former players to evaluate the state of the game in India. Do you think that will committee will achieve anything?

Ashish Magotra: Well, we can be sure that the committee will come up with recommendations. But will those recommendations ever become reality? When Anil Kumble took over as chairman from Ravi Shastri – he quickly outlined a three-year plan; a vision of how he wanted the academy to shape up. But instead he found that his plans were discussed a lot – only discussed. When push comes to shove, the BCCI simply backs off.

One would also hope that the state of the game also includes the state of the Board. In a sense, both feed of each other. If the administration is corrupt, the game suffers. If we can’t win on the field, the administration is put under pressure. Also at some level, an independent evaluation is needed. Almost everyone – cricketer or administrator alike – is aligned to some party in the BCCI and that will never get you the honest kind of recommendations that will really help.

Then again, do you think the conflicts of interest cases against some players may be revived as well? Several of them are linked very closely to Srinivasan… might they be next? Tariq Engineer: That is a very interesting question since India captain MS Dhoni is tied to Srinivasan in so many ways. Sundar Raman, another Srinivasan ally, is already under investigation by the Supreme Court and the BCCI will have some questions for him too once the IPL is over. We also know that Dhoni’s name was probably submitted to the Supreme Court in the sealed envelope everyone appears to have forgotten about.

When Dalmiya was interim president, he had promised to look into Dhoni’s business dealings. With Srinivasan’s grasp on power slipping and Virat Kohli already in place as Test captain, perhaps this is the time they decide to have a close look at Dhoni’s actions.

Of course, that won’t be easy to do. Dhoni is a hero to cricket fans and damaging Dhoni could damage Indian cricket. The BCCI won’t want to take such a risk. My sense is that if they do anything at all, it will be to have a quiet word in Dhoni’s ear about announcing his retirement. But even that is a big if.

I’ll get you out of here with this question: Where do you see the dust settling when all this is over?

Ashish Magotra: By the way, you have forgotten Ravi Shastri, who said that this was the perfect opportunity for Srinivasan to clean up the mess. Anyway, these things happen in sports administration. When the dust does settle – Srinivasan will hopefully be gone – from the ICC. But he will still remain in charge of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and hence, like Dalmiya, will always have a chance of coming back. That said, Dalmiya and Co will lead India into another era of cloak and dagger cricket politics. There is a lot of big money involved in cricket and as long that is the case – it will never ever become truly clean. Perhaps that is the curse that cricket will have to live with henceforth.