Srinivasan to remain BCCI's face at ICC

He will abstain from discharging his duties as the BCCI president for now but N Srinivasan will continue to represent the Indian board at the ICC.

After returning from the working committee meeting in Chennai, Mumbai Cricket Association's acting president Ravi Savant confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Srinivasan emerged as the preferred choice when it came to representation at the game's governing body.

While Savant didn't elaborate on the reasons, another member revealed 'continuity' as the main factor. "Since Srinivasan has been attending most of the ICC meetings for the last couple of years, it makes sense not to disturb the pattern," he said, preferring anonymity.

Representation at the ICC was one of the critical issues during behind-the-doors deals going into Sunday's working committee that resulted in Srinivasan temporarily stepping aside as the BCCI president.

The ICC's annual conference is to be held in London from June 25 to 29, and it remains to be seen whether Srinivasan, often accused (or complimented) as the man who unofficially drives ICC's decision-making, will enjoy the same clout among the group of ICC chief executives that he has enjoyed so far.

Had it not been the for the arrests of three Rajasthan Royals players on May 16 for alleged spot-fixing, Srinivasan wouldn't have had to convene two emergency working committee meetings in as many weeks. However, neither the arrested players nor Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, the Chennai Super Kings management member who has been arrested on the charge of betting on IPL games, were even discussed during the meeting. "Neither betting nor spot-fixing was mentioned even once during the meeting, just like resignation," said another member.

Meanwhile, one of the first tasks of Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has been put in charge of BCCI's day-to-day activities till the internal probe is completed, will be to appoint a new secretary and a treasurer. Even though the BCCI working committee has requested Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke to withdraw their resignations, both Jagdale and Shirke have made up their mind not to backtrack on their decisions to step down as secretary and treasurer respectively. Besides, Dalmiya will also have to name Jagdale's replacement in the three-member internal inquiry panel to probe into complaints against Super Kings, Meiyappan and Royals.

Even though Dalmiya can choose candidates of his choice, the appointments will have to be ratified by the BCCI's working committee. Similarly, all the decisions taken by him will have to be approved by the working committee, which is likely to be convened once every fortnight. "In all likelihood, Srinivasan will abstain from all the working committee meetings till his name is cleared in this episode," a member said.

The situation where the BCCI finds itself after ten days of back and forth with Srinivasan, offering suggestions and conditions on how to deal with the news of his son-in-law's arrest, is exactly what had been offered to Srinivasan on the first day - that he ease himself off his official duties until the board's own investigation into the IPL corruption scandal could be completed.

Srinivasan though dug his heels, ensured that the escalating crisis took out his two most competent aides, forcing him to call the working committee together for the first time following Gurunath's arrest. It meant that that the agenda of the meeting moved from the crisis in the BCCI to saving an individual.