Assortment of decisions taken at BCCI meeting, Pakistan apart
The Board working committee's momentous decision in New Delhi on Tuesday to throw down the gauntlet before the Government vis-a-vis the prickly issue of playing Pakistan was not on the listed agenda of the meeting, taking many by surprise
Sankhya Krishnan
25-Apr-2001
The Board working committee's momentous decision in New Delhi on
Tuesday to throw down the gauntlet before the Government vis-a-vis the
prickly issue of playing Pakistan was not on the listed agenda of the
meeting, taking many by surprise. But there were several other more
mundane issues which were also disposed of in the same surroundings.
Officials of the Goa Cricket Association, already being harassed by
police over their involvement in a bogus ticket racket during the
India-Australia one-dayer on April 6, face the prospect of being
slapped with a show cause notice for trying to wriggle out of their
predicament by pointing the finger at the Board. "We understand that
certain allegations have been made by GCA officials. They are
absolutely false and we totally deny them" said Muthiah. He dampened
speculation that the report of match observer KP Kajaria, which has
already been submitted to the Board, would contain any bombshells.
"The match observer's function is restricted to the ground area. He is
generally not concerned with what goes outside it" said Muthiah in a
cop out that effectively relieved the Board of any responsibilty for
the incident. Muthiah however suggested that the Board was not
entirely unaware about the travails of genuine ticket holders in
gaining unfettered access to stadia and disclosed that they were
anxious to prevent a recurrence. "We as responsible regulators want to
ensure that it does not happen again in the future." he assured.
Sponsorship bids for the Indian cricket team in advance of next
months's tour of Zimbabwe were also opened at the meeting although no
immediate decision is likely. "If the bids fall short of what we want
we may invite fresh ones" indicated Muthiah. Four companies are in the
hunt including Hero Honda and Sporting Frontiers of which Australian
skipper Steve Waugh is non-executive director. Sporting Frontiers has
already won the rights to sell in-stadia advertising in 14 of India's
international grounds. The quest for a new sponsor began in right
earnest after ITC was forced to relinquish their position just before
the Australian series by a Government initiative to ban tobacco firms
from marketing their products in sporting arenas.
The meeting also finalised the budgets for India's next two
international tours, of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. An amount of Rs 2.04
crores was approved for the Zimbabwe tour - which kicks off with a
warm-up fixture on May 28 - while a slightly weightier sum of Rs 4.47
crores is earmarked for the tour of Sri Lanka, scheduled to begin on
July 16.
A verdict on the aspirations of five more local associations
Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal, Pondicherry and Chandigarh now in
the queue for BCCI membership has been deferred. Muthiah said the
working committee is not authorised to take a decision in this
connection and left the issue to be handled by the General Body.
Affiliation to the Board however does not necessarily entail Ranji
Trophy status. As a first step, the Board is likely to empower the
associations to participate in junior tournaments like the Under-19
level Cooch Behar Trophy as Sikkim is doing at the moment.
The Board has also taken umbrage at the Income Tax department's
decision to withdraw tax exemption to them. The IT department had
slapped a notice of Rs 10 crore for the 1997-98 financial year ,
suggesting that the Board was utilising money for purposes other than
those for which the exemption was given. "We have decided to challenge
the move in court as it is arbitrary and unfair," Muthiah said, adding
that the Board required further time to respond to the IT
questionnaire. "It raised 38 questions. We need time to reply to
them."
Having woken up to the needs of employing a media manager in an
exercise to improve their unflattering public relations image, the
Board is in the process of homing in on a suitable candidate. "There
are four or five short-listed candidates for the post and we will be
interviewing them soon," Muthiah said, adding none of them were from
the media.
Muthiah also confirmed that the five zonal academies sanctioned by the
Board at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Kanpur on the lines of
the National Cricket Academy will start functioning from May 1.
However he rebutted an earlier statement from Chairman of the NCA
Committee Raj Singh Dungarpur that the Board would provide a 50%
subsidy to four more zonal academies mooted at the Under-14 and
Under-16 levels. "In addition, if state associations want to start
academies for Under-14 and Under-16 players, they are free to do so
provided they follow the Board's guidelines in this regard. However
the Board would not provide any subsidies to these academies," he
declared.
Meanwhile the BCCI watchdog K Madhavan, serving in the capacity of
anticorruption commissioner, is coming closer to the finish line in
his laborious attempt to unravel the enigmatic betting and matchfixing nexus dogging Indian cricket. Muthiah confided with the press
that Madhavan's investigations will be complete as soon as he is able
to establish contact with some of the current Indian players who could
not be reached earlier because of their commitments with the national
team. "Now that the Australia series is over, Madhavan will complete
his inquiry and submit the report soon," Muthiah assured.