The back story of BCCI’s self destruction

As the Supreme Court gets ready to appoint administrators to run the BCCI, I believe there is no one but the Board itself to blame for its overflowing cup of woes. The back story that I want to share with cricket lovers today is truly one of self-destruction. Cricket lovers need to understand how the greed and arrogance of some senior officials have brought the BCCI to this sorry state of affairs.
During my career in cricket administration I was privileged to work with stalwarts like NKP Salve, M Chinnaswamy and Raj Singh Dungarpur. These doyens built the board brick by brick and stood for good governance. They served cricket and understood its true stars were the players and not board representatives. The people of India trusted us. They had faith in the institution.
Sadly all this was destroyed, when Indian cricket was engulfed by the IPL match fixing controversy in 2013. At that point, I felt BCCI President Narayanswami Srinivasan (Srini) should have been persuaded to or forced to resign immediately. This would not only have allowed a fair investigation into the affairs of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, but restored public faith in the game.
I actually told Srini that he should step aside completely, fine both the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals 20 crores each and ban his son-in-law from cricket-related activities. But Srini was so drunk on power that he laughed at me. He thought he was even bigger than the courts and was accountable to no one.
From my vantage point, I believe Srini’s failure to resign was a missed opportunity to clean up our own mess. Good governance, public trust and ethics are values that need to permeate our politics and public discourse. This is what we need to pass on to our youth. This is what really builds institutions and nations. But Srini thought otherwise and treated the Board like his very own jagir.
I’d also like to share what happened at the emergency working committee meeting in Chennai in June 2013 because I believe this was an even bigger missed opportunity. At that meeting, I categorically asked for Srini’s resignation, but no one supported me. There were whispers from others, but no one had the guts to speak out. Yet again, Indian cricket failed to win over the media and the Indian public. These were huge errors of judgment that ultimately opened the doors for the Supreme Court of India to get involved in cricket and order Srini to quit as BCCI President in March, 2014.

Last year Srini was re-elected President of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. It seems we haven’t learnt from our past mistakes.
Going forward, I feel we have to make greater efforts to have men of integrity governing the game. If I had the choice, I would like to suggest a few names for the panel of administrators. From the judiciary, I’d go for Justice Mukul Mudgal or even a former Chief Justice of India, Visheshwar Nath Khare, who played first class cricket.
From the civil service, I would pick Mr. Nikhil Kumar, an ardent cricket fan and former Governor of Kerala and Nagaland. My next choice would be Sumedh Saini, former DGP Punjab, who has been associated with the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) for three years and managed the 2011 World Cup semi final between India and Pakistan.
Mohinder Pratap Pandove, who served under me in the PCA for 30 years would be my first pick as a former cricketer. I would also have considered Sourav Ganguly, but since he is President of the Cricket Association of Bengal that rules him out. Rahul Dravid’s name enters the fray as well, but his drawback is he has no experience as an administrator.
(The writer is a former BCCI president)