Srinivasan’s suspension a body blow to ‘Big Three’

Indian Supreme Court overturned Srinivasan’s appeal for reinstatement as BCCI head.

KARACHI: As Kolkata and Mumbai take the field for the first match of the 7th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Abu Dhabi – a country where India refused to play for eight years due to alleged fixing – the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) mulls the possibilities ahead in the aftermath of the suspension of its once powerful president N Srinivasan. 

The irony is that Srinivasan’s appeal for reinstatement as BCCI head was overturned by the Indian Supreme Court on Wednesday, after Justice AK Patnaik revealed the content of the sealed envelopes included in the Justice Mudgal report on spot-fixing in the 6th edition of the cash-rich cricket league.

Justice Patnaik disclosed that there were 13 names in the sealed envelope that was handed to the top court last month and Srinivasan’s name was the 13th in that envelope. He had 12 allegations against him, with annexures to each of them. “It seems that Mr Srinivasan has not taken the allegations seriously,” he said.

It indeed seems that the business tycoon and one of the primary forces behind the ‘Big Three’ proposal thought that his might and clout will help him get clean chit from the courts.

Last year, his son-in-law was named in the probe but Srinivasan backed him to the hilt, initially claiming that he was a mere enthusiast of the game. He later told the media that the head of ICC’s anti-corruption unit was also clueless about spot-fixing in the IPL.

Srinivasan set to chair ICC from July

In the aftermath of the SC decision, the stakeholders need to decide if Srinivasan is going to occupy the seat of the ICC chairman in July.

The BCCI will get to nominate the first chairman since the implementation of the new reforms and prevalent impression following the ICC executive board meeting is that Srinavasan will be sworn in as the body’s top official for the next two years.

The ICC formally announced his selection on February 8 stating “From the start of July this year, the ICC chairman will be N. Srinivasan from the BCCI.”

Alan Isaac, the ICC president, stated after the first executive board meeting in January that the BCCI, Cricket Australia and England Cricket Board, the three leading cricket nations, worked tirelessly to produce a document [Big Three proposal]. Srinivasan was a central figure in the process.

After the controversy regarding the leakage of the draft paper emerged, Isaac expressed his disappointment at the ‘unwarranted criticism of many of those involved in the process’.

Now the designated chairman and one of the many who faced ‘unwarranted criticism’, is facing a serious probe and has been barred from governing his own cricket board in a separate instance.

Is the ICC still willing to have him installed as their supremo? Perhaps Justice Patnaik is also wondering if the ICC, the Big Three or the BCCI taking the allegations against Srinivasan seriously.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2014.