Srinivasan set to preside over working committee meeting

N Srinivasan is set to preside over the BCCI's working committee meeting to be held in New Delhi on Friday, two months to the day he said he would step aside as board president for the duration of the probe into the IPL fixing mess. The committee that carried out that investigation submitted its report on July 28 but the manner in which it was set up was struck down two days later by the Bombay High Court as illegal and violative of the BCCI's own constitution.

However, that ruling, and the public outcry that followed it, seems to have left the BCCI president unfazed. A senior board official said public criticism wouldn't affect the BCCI's way of functioning.

"The president had stepped aside till the probe was complete. Now that the probe is over, he has decided to return to action," the official told ESPNcricinfo, requesting anonymity. "It doesn't matter what the court has observed. Our legal cell will look into the matter."

The two-man committee was investigating charges against the holding companies of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals besides Raj Kundra, the Royals co-owner, and Gurunath Meiyappan, senior management official of Super Kings and also Srinivasan's son-in-law.

Following the public uproar after arrests of three Royals cricketers and Meiyappan, Srinivasan had stepped aside, paving the way for former president Jagmohan Dalmiya to look after the BCCI's day-to-day affairs. However, once the probe panel submitted its report to the working committee, it was clear that Srinivasan would officially return to power at the earliest.

It remains to be seen if Dalmiya, who had admitted that the BCCI had been embarrassed due to the court order, is rewarded for handling the board's affairs over the last two months.

Dalmiya, for his part, was quoted by PTI as saying he was clueless about what was happening in the BCCI. "I'm totally in dark about what's happening at the board. I've not been communicated anything. I'm just hearing all these in news reports," he said. "Perhaps I'll find out after going there for the working committee meeting in New Delhi."