Published: Mar 28, 2014, 04:05 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 28, 2014, 04:19 PM (IST)
The Supreme Court of India has come out with a multi-faceted interim order that may change Indian cricket inside out. Abhishek Mukherjee tries to answer the relevant questions.
Q: I have skipped the morning news, and have just got to know that the Supreme Court has passed an order that may change a lot of things. What exactly has happened?
A: They have asked Sunil Gavaskar to step in as an interim President of The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during the course of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014.
Q: Whoa! So N Srinivasan goes as BCCI President?
A: Yes. He is not allowed to take control as BCCI President till the pendency of the case.
Q: Is that a verdict?
A: No. This is an interim order. The hearing is on April 16. The verdict with follow.
Q: Hang on! You just said that Mr Gavaskar steps in only for the IPL! What about the rest of BCCI administration?
A: No, his authority will be restricted only to IPL. The rest will be handled by the BCCI Senior Vice-President Shivlal Yadav.
Full coverage of Supreme Court hearing on IPL 2013 spot-fixing and betting scandal
Q: What about Sundar Raman? Does he still remain the CEO of IPL?
A: The Supreme Court has asked Gavaskar to decide on that.
Q: What about the man himself? Has Gavaskar agreed to take over the responsibilities?
A: Yes. He had mentioned yesterday night that he will only be too happy to do it.
Q: Wait, this means that the IPL still goes on…
A: Indeed. The IPL goes on as scheduled.
Q: With all eight teams?
A: Yes.
Q: So nothing happens to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) or Rajasthan Royals (RR)?
A: No. Nothing happens to them.
Q: But then, Pune Warriors India (PWI) and Kochi Tuskers (KT) had been dropped from the IPL!
A: I know, but this is what the Supreme Court has ordered as the case is still sub-judice. I am only relaying them to you.
Q: Does Srinivasan still get to own CSK?
A: There has been no update on that, but there is no reason why he will not.
Q: What about India Cements employees?
A: Of the India Cements employees, only the players and commentators can continue. Nobody else will be allowed to be associated to BCCI in any form, especially administration.
Q: Wow! So MS Dhoni and others can play for India, and Rahul Dravid and others can commentate?
A: Yes.
Q: Didn’t BCCI say something in response?
A: Yes. The exact words were: “(MS) Dhoni has been wrongly vilified by media after yesterday’s proceedings in which false allegations were levelled against him.”
Q: That was it?
A: Well, their lawyer had something more to offer. In an interview with IBN Sports he said: “We are very pleased, this is exactly what we had proposed.”
Q: Has there been anything else?
A: Not quite.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Deputy Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in and can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)
