Published: Jul 04, 2017, 02:02 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 04, 2017, 03:31 PM (IST)
Amidst the ongoing tussle to get the association members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to implement the Supreme Court-formed Lodha panel reforms, the last thing Committee of Administrators (CoA) wanted was to have internal differences. However, they are left exactly in the same state, with a flurry of demands being made by one of their own colleagues not going down well with them. If reports are to be believed, CoA members are unhappy with fellow member Diana Edulji’s ways of functioning as well as her demands, one of them being inclusion of former India coach Anil Kumble to the CoA panel.
According to a report published in the TOI, CoA members Vinod Rai and Vikram Limaye were convinced about BCCI’s decision to invite more applications for the role of the coach after Kumble’s withdrawal from the race, acknowledging that more candidates would be interested in the job. However, Edulji questioned the move, despite the fact that only five candidates had applied for the job. The CoA, which has refused to speak in the open about Edulji’s ways of functioning so far, is learnt to be in discomfort over the manner in which she’s performing her role.
Edulji reportedly demanded that the Supreme Court be requested to appoint Kumble in the CoA panel as one of the replacements after Ramchandra Guha’s and Limaye’s exits. While Guha has already quit, Limaye will exit next month. This did not go down well with the CoA members. Besides, she has also mooted the idea of a women’s Twenty20 league to be put in place by the BCCI, which the board has turned down citing not feasible in present context.
Edulji, who earlier got the idea of handing over a one-time benefit for women cricketers — including those who have played only between one and nine matches — approved, is now also pushing for a pension scheme for women cricketers. “An idea being passed without being approved by the general body is not agreeable. There’s no way that a pension scheme is going to be even discussed outside of the general body,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying on the matter.
Interestingly, Diana’s sister, Beheroze Edulji, has been a beneficiary of the Rs 15 lakh ex-gratia payment too.
“If the same courtesy were to be extended to male cricketers, BCCI will have to dole out payments anywhere between Rs 11 and 13 crore. Money is not the thing here. The question is if this is the correct thing to do,” the official added.
