ABU DHABI // The Supreme Court of India proposed a set of sweeping changes to Indian cricket on Thursday that include calls to replace the head of the game and to suspend two franchises from this season's Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been told to reply to the proposals on Friday, after which the court will pass an interim order.
The developments came two days after the court had observed that N Srinivasan should step down as the president of the BCCI. Though he was not ordered to step down, as the court had threatened, one of the proposals suggested that Sunil Gavaskar – or another respected former player – take over.
The two-judge bench also proposed that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) be suspended from this season’s IPL.
The franchises are at the centre of a corruption investigation from last season’s edition; four RR players have been banned for fixing, while a senior official from CSK is also under the scanner for illegal betting on matches.
Srinivasan is also the managing director of India Cements, which is the company that owns CSK. It is his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan who is the franchise official under the scanner; Srinivasan has argued that Meiyappan was never an official but merely a ‘cricket enthusiast’.
The third proposed change Justices AK Patnaik and Ibrahim Kalifulla put forward was to bar employees of India Cements from working in the BCCI.
The case began in June 2013, when the secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) Aditya Verma filed a petition regarding a conflict of interest in the formation of BCCI’s two-member inquiry panel into the IPL corruption issue; that has spiralled eventually upwards to the highest court in the land.
The arguments of the legal counsel for CAB, Harish Salve, took up most of the session and, among other issues, also put the spotlight also on the India and CSK captain, MS Dhoni (who is also an India Cements employee).
In the report into the corruption scandal compiled by another judge, Justice Mukul Mudgal, Dhoni had told the committee that Meiyappan had nothing to do with the CSK franchise. Salve argued that by doing so “the Indian cricket captain has been indulging in corrupt conduct”.
Gavaskar, a former captain and now a commentator, said to a TV channel that he would be ready to take over, should he be required. “When the highest court of the land tells you to do something, you have to do it.
“As an opening batsman you have to be mentally and physically ready for any challenge.”
The proceedings in court forced the postponement of a press conference which was due to be held in Abu Dhabi yesterday afternoon for the launch of the IPL, the first leg of which will be played in the UAE.
A final verdict in the case is expected on April 16.
[ osamiuddin@thenational.ae ]
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