Mumbai Cricket Association concerned with recommendations of Lodha Committee

Mumbai: Rattled by the Lodha committee’s recommendations of sweeping reforms, the Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) managing committee will meet here next week to take stock of the report’s implications. “We are meeting on January 13. Yes, it’s about the Lodha Committee’s report,” MCA’s joint secretary Dr P V Shetty told PTI today. The MCA has reasons to be concerned about the recommendations of the Lodha panel that persons above 70 years of age should not be office-bearers in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or its affiliated state association, as its President Sharad Pawar is 75-years-old. ALSO READ: Arun Lal welcomes Lodha Panel’s suggestion of players’ association

The Lodha panel has also recommended one vote for one state association with the provision that the other associations be relegated to associate member status. If this is accepted, then Mumbai CA, which is one of the permanent Test centres of the Board and has a permanent place on the Working Committee, will lose its vote as the state of Maharashtra has three units affiliated to the BCCI — Mumbai CA, Maharashtra CA and Vidarbha CA. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has pretty much been the decision makers and the players have not had a say in any of the matters until now. But with the Lodha Committee coming in place, the players can soon express their views and will be prominent in the coming days, says former Indian cricketer Arun Lal. ALSO READ: Lodha Committee recommend separate governing bodies for IPL and BCCI

The Lodha panel has recommended that an apex council will run the BCCI and it comprise of nine members – two being representatives of players association. Lodha has recommended that the association will be formed by a steering committee, headed by former home secretary G K Pillai, and comprising former captains Mohinder Amarnath and Anil Kumble along with former Indian women’s captain Diana Edulji. The association will include all those who have played firstclass cricket.