From Vinod Rai to Ramachandra Guha - all you need to know about BCCI's new fab four

The Supreme Court appointed a four-member committee of administrators to run the affairs of the BCCI and implement the court-approved recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha panel. Asked Rai about his new role, he said: "Any such honour from the Supreme Court, one will have to accept and try to put in his best of abilities. Here’s a look at fab four who were selected to save Indian cricket:

Vinod Rai – the night watchman

The 11^th CAG of India (2008 to 2013), the Harvard-educated administrator, is a 1972 cadre officer (Kerala) of IAS and started his career as a collector at Thrissur District. He has worked in various capacities in the Ministry of Commerce and Finance and is known for being a staunch anti-corruption crusader. He is hailed for going against the establishment during the 2G spectrum scam. He’s currently the chairman of United Nations Panel of External Auditors.  

Describing his appointment, he called himself a "night-watchman" whose only job will be to ensure a "smooth transition" to an elected body in BCCI. "I am a true lover of the game of cricket. My role is that of a night-watchman in a sense that we need to put in place good governance, good system and structure in place to ensure a smooth transition to an elected body which in future will bring about good administration in BCCI," he said. "The game deserves it (good governance), the players deserve it and public at large, who are so fond of the game."

Ramachandra Guha – the Nehru fan

Ramachandra Guha is a noted historian, columnist and cricket writer who has huge disdain for IPL, claiming it was bad for ‘capitalism, democracy and cricket’. Nowadays, on social media he is often trolled for being a Nehru fanboy, but remains one of India’s most astute minds. His work in environmental history is noteworthy and he has authored award-winning books including India After Gandhi and A Corner of a Foreign Field, which deals with the history of Indian cricket. 

He has taught at Yale and Stanford, held the Arne Naess Chair at the University of Oslo and has been a visiting professor at the University of California. He said that he will accept the post as administrator but refused to comment further. However, he did take a joke about his Nehru love on the chin, when he retweeted popular blogger’s tweet which said: “With #RamGuhainBCCI Nehra is one vowel away from captaincy.”

Diana Edulji – the Sportsman

The only sportsperson on the panel, Diana Edulji is cricketing royalty who made her India debut in 1976 and went on to play 20 Tests, took 63 wickets at 25.77 and scored 404 runs. She also played 34 ODIs and picked up 46 wickets and received the Arjuna Award in 1983 and the Padma Shri in 2002.

Diana Edulji, who is a part of a four-member panel appointed by the Supreme Court to take charge of the administration of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Monday said she was honoured, adding that she would try to do justice to the responsibilities she has been entrusted upon.

“I am very happy and honoured to be nominated on BCCI administrative committee by the Supreme Court. It is a huge responsibility. It?s surprising though that I am the only one player in the committee. I respect the judgment and believe it's a victory for women's cricket. Edulji added: “I only hope that I would be able to do justice. I thank the Supreme Court for having entrusted me with this responsibility.”

Vikram Limaye – the Businessman

Meanwhile, the fourth member on the committee is Managing Director and CEO of IDFC, who is qualified CA and holds an MBA degree from Wharton. He is a giant in the financial sector and has been part of a host of government committees on topics including infrastructure, economic policy, markets, trade and minority affairs.

After being appointed he said: “Yes, my consent was taken and I consider it as a huge honour especially as I was considered worthy of this role by the Supreme Court of India. I take up the responsibility with utmost seriousness and will be working to ensure better governance in the BCCI.”

A alumni of the world famous Wharton School of Business and a veteran in Investment Banking, Capital Markets, Limaye said that he would like to speak to his colleagues in BCCI (joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhary) to understand its position in ICC Board Meeting.

"I will not like to comment on anything that I am unaware of. This is my first foray into cricket administration. He also said: “I have just exchanged a text message with Mr (Ramachandra) Guha. Will have a detailed discussion with him in the evening. One part of our job will be to implement the reforms of the Justice Lodha panel. But that is only a part of the job. There are a lot of things that we need to sit down and figure out as to how we will be going about our job.”

 Honourable mention

Justice Lodha – The Godfather

Meanwhile, none of this would’ve been feasible without Justice Lodha who started everything with the Lodha report that proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the BCCI’s older avatar.

Speaking about the interim order, he said: “'It is a very good committee. Large panel of names was presented before the Supreme Court and the best suitable members were selected for the job. Four names which have been selected are very good and they must help in implementation of our report which have been accepted by the Supreme Court. CAG nominee will be member of apex council, but this is not apex council but committee of administrators.

This is interim arrangement intended to work until the reforms suggested by us and accepted by Supreme Court are put in place. I believe that under the watchful eye of Supreme Court, the committee of administrators must go ahead and ensure that the timelines which are fixed they are maintained and the things go ahead accordingly.”

WIth inputs from agencies