Gavaskar 'willing' to step in as BCCI head

Supreme Court proposes batting legend to replace Srinivasan.

NEW DELHI: Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar said he was willing to take the helm of India's embattled cricket board Thursday, following a request by the Supreme Court designed to stem the damage from a betting scandal.

At a dramatic hearing in New Delhi, a panel of judges also called for the banning of two teams from this year's Indian Premier League (IPL), in a potentially devastating blow to a tournament which begins next month.

After warning the incumbent N Srinivasan that they could order him to quit, the judges proposed 64-year-old Gavaskar take over on an interim basis as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"In the place of Srinivasan, we propose to appoint an experienced cricket player like Sunil Gavaskar to replace him and function as BCCI president," said Justice AK Patnaik, the panel's chairman.

Gavaskar, the first player ever to score 10,000 runs in Test match cricket and who is now a television commentator, said he was up for the challenge of leading the most powerful body in world cricket.

"The fact that I am contracted to the BCCI to do TV commentary has to be put on record," he told the NDTV network.

"After that if the honourable Supreme Court tells you to do something, then of course ... if they ask me to do something, I will do it.

There was no immediate reaction from Srinivasan but his counsel had earlier told the court he was willing to ‘step aside’. But he first wanted to know how long an ongoing investigation would continue.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2014.

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