The pandemic appears to have multiplied the woes of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has had to deal with a spate of resignations. This has resulted in key stakeholders in the domestic structure being left in the lurch during the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Despite a new set of office-bearers — led by former India captain Sourav Ganguly as president and Jay Shah as secretary — taking charge in October last year, ending the three-year regime of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, the BCCI has been confronted by a variety of internal and external issues.
Growing uncertainty
While the BCCI has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court to further dilute the administrative reforms recommended by the Lodha committee, this has resulted in growing uncertainty over the tenures of Ganguly and Shah. High-profile resignations have added to the challenges the Board faces.
The IPL corruption scandal had resulted in the BCCI appointing a chief executive officer and chief financial officer for the first time. While Santosh Rangnekar, the CFO, quit immediately after Ganguly and Co. took over, CEO Rahul Johri tendered his resignation earlier this year. Johri’s last day was supposed to have been April 30.
However, the BCCI apex council, during its meeting on May 6, noted that his resignation has been rejected and Johri would remain on board at least until March 2021.
Vice-president Mahim Verma also resigned recently. Although he held a largely ceremonial post, his exit has reduced the apex council from nine to eight members. All these developments have coincided with the lockdown, contributing to a perception of instability within the Board. They have also played a role — direct or indirect — in delaying payments to domestic players and officials.
BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal stressed, however, that the Board was a stable organisation. “There is no instability as such. People come and go but an institution never stops running. It’s not that we have been incapacitated by any of these factors,” he told The Hindu.
“I have been given to understand that the delay in payments is primarily due to the lockdown. But payments are being released and whatever little backlog has been created will be cleared at the earliest.”
While some domestic cricketers are yet to receive their match-fees for the recently concluded cricket season, many umpires and scorers have not been paid for their services since January. The players and officials have been understanding so far, but those who don’t have other sources of income are running out of time during the prolonged lockdown.
