Judgement reserved on players as decision is deferred

The Special General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India at Calcutta today failed to arrive at a decision regarding the punishment that should be meted out to the cricketers involved in match fixing. The BCCI also brought out a public document, titled: "Observation on the report of the CBI on cricket match-fixing and related malpractices."

Talking to the media immediately after the four and a half hour meeting, the BCCI president AC Muthiah said that the decision would be taken up by the Disciplinary Committee of the BCCI by next Monday or Tuesday in Chennai. The BCCI president said, "We have discussed in this special general body meeting all the technicalities and legalities of the disciplinary measures. We will pass on the recommendations to the disciplinary committee and a final decision on this will be taken early next week."

The special general body was supposed to take a final decision today. But it could not as there was a distinct division amongst the members regarding disciplining the players. There was a large section amongst the members who were of the opinion that all the five accused should be given uniform punishment and that Azhar should not be singled out.

The BCCI however, has another problem. The constitution of the Board says that two types of punishment can be imposed. One is life ban while the other is a ban for five years. The BCCI is in a fix, regarding the second rule for it would have to ban Ajay Jadeja for at least five years - a decision that quite few BCCI members did not agree upon.

However, the most surprising statement at the press conference was the BCCI president saying that "the punishment will be given to the players after giving due consideration to the performances that the cricketers and the glory and prestige that they have brought." He also added that at least 30% of the punishment would be reduced according to the performance of the players. However, he also stated that the records and the statistics of the players will not be affected.

When asked whether the BCCI was thinking of removing the performances of the players from the record books, Muthiah said, "Even though there is a provision for it, we cannot do so because there are quite a few technical difficulties."

Muthiah however, made it very clear that all the members at the special general body meeting were in favour of meting out an exemplary punishment to the guilty cricketers. He said, "We deliberated on the CBI Report and Madhavan's report regarding the match-fixing allegations. We also discussed what the players had said on Tuesday and everyone was of the opinion that they should not be allowed to go scot-free."

However, insiders at the meeting informed that the former CBI Director had to face quite a few tough questions from board members. One member from the South asked Madhavan as to why he was so emphatic about proving Azhar guilty. He also asked Madhavan to explain as to how one man could fix an entire match - a question that had the former CBI director groping for an answer.

However, as things stand, in all probability Azharuddin will be getting a life ban. Along with him, Ajay Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar may also be banned for five years. The decision will not hurt them much simply because they are virtually over the hill. Jadeja may be sentenced with a ban for two years even though that is not in the Board's constitution.

An insider also informed that Azharuddin was planning to go to court if he was banned for life. In fact Azhar had specifically called up a BCCI official and had informed him of this. The former Indian skipper has also talked to his one time deputy Jadeja and clarified that he had not informed the CBI regarding the latter's involvement with match-fixing.

Muthiah however was very critical of what the CBI had to say regarding the functioning of the Board. He said, "The statements that the CBI has made regarding the manner of the functioning of the BCCI is not justified."

In the document released by the BCCI president today, the following questions were raised:

1. Why was the Board not informed of the CBI's terms of reference to comment on the functioning of an autonomous body like the Board?

2. Why did the CBI not verify the facts and figures from the Board before furnishing these in the report?
3. Why was the Board not given an opportunity to present its case before the CBI furnished a report on its functioning?
4. What were the sources from which the CBI had collected the erroneous facts and figures that were used to describe the functioning of the BCCI?
5. Since the matter has implications 'for national security as a whole,' how does the CBI expect the Board to tackle the problems instead of law enforcing agencies?

Muthiah categorically stated that the book will also be given to all the Central Government Ministers, the Members of the Parliament and the Members of the Legislative Assemblies. It became quite clear today that the BCCI was all out to prove the CBI wrong for their statements on the functioning of the board.