'No deal with Kochi' - Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar has defended his association with the IPL's beleaguered Kochi franchise against charges of conflict of interest and sought to explain the nature of the relationship as informal and preliminary. He has also hinted at senior members of the IPL governing council having existing or potential conflict of interest issues.

"I do not have a deal with Kochi," he told the Indian channel NDTV. "There is no stake, there has been nothing."

Gavaskar, who was not part of the governing council when it was reconstituted in September, has in recent days been linked with the Kochi franchise. He has already denied helping the consortium make its successful bid in the IPL team auction in March and said there was no written agreement over his association with the franchise, nor any question of holding any stake in it.

"They only came to me for advice," he said, adding that it was not extraordinary. "They can't go to the English Premier League or the Premier Hockey league or the Department of Atomic Energy for advice on the IPL."

He said he told them he couldn't be associated in any way with them while on the governing council. "If there was any association I would have gone to the governing council and sought their permission. Had the council said no, it would have been a matter of my choosing between the franchise or the governing council. The fact of the matter is so far they don't even have a franchise, they are still having internal issues."

Gavaskar also spoke of conflict-of-interest issues surrounding the IPL. The most famous one - which is also currently being heard in the Supreme Court - involves N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary who is also the owner of Chennai franchise. Another involves Chirayu Amin, Modi's successor as the IPL chairman and who, Modi alleged, had a 10% stake in a failed bid for the Pune franchise. A third involves Ajay Shirke, a member of the newly re-formed IPL council.

Asked by the channel to explain the apparent conflicts of interest, Gavaskar said: "I suppose it would have been different had they won [the bids]. Obviously it would then have been out in the public domain."

When it was pointed out that he was not denying the allegations of conflict of interest made by the interviewer, Gavaskar said: "It's a fact everybody knows and everyone is aware about the fact of these associations."

Gavaskar also said he had not been paid for his work on the IPL governing council over the past three years. "I have not been paid at all by the BCCI, since I took on the offer," he said, adding that he'd sent "a gentle reminder" about the non-payment. As a consequence of that, he said, he'd learnt that Sharad Pawar, the ICC president and former BCCI chief, would organise a meeting between Gavaskar and the current board head Shashank Manohar (in his presence) to sort out the matter. "That for me is good enough."

However, his claims on this issue were disputed by Srinivasan, who told Indian channel CNN-IBN all dues had been cleared till the last financial quarter (July-September 2010).